
Class _ 
Book ^ 

(jojjyrightN?. 



iEaZ 






CQEOUGin' DEPOSIT. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/psychoanalyticme01pfis 



THE 

PSYCHOANALYTIC 

METHOD 



BY 



DR. OSKAR fFISTER 

Pastor and Seminary Teacher in Zurich 



AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION 
BY 

DR. CHARLES ROCKWELL PAYNE 



NEW YORK 

MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY 

1917 



W'^ 



^ 

4^^^ 



COPTBIGHT, 1917, BY 

MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY 
Published January, 1917 



Bt 



■I 
FEE -2 !9I7 

€)aA453939 



TO 

PROF. JAMES JACKSON PUTNAM 

in appreciation of his service in 

introducing Psychoanalysis 

in America 



OsKAR Pfisteb 

Charles Rockwell Payne 



INTRODUCTION 
By Sigmund Freud (Vienna). 

Psychoanalysis originated on a medical basis as a method 
of treatment for certain nervous maladies which are called 
functional and in which there is recognized with constantly in- 
creasing certainty the result of disturbances of the afEectivity. 
It attains its object of removing the expressions of such dis- 
turbances, the symptoms, by presupposing that these symptoms 
may not be the only possible and final outcome of certain mental 
processes, and with that in view, exposes the history of the 
development of the symptoms in the memory, reawakens the 
processes lying underneath these symptoms and affords them a 
more favorable outlet under the guidance of the physician. 
Psychoanalysis has set up the same therapeutic goal as the hyp- 
notic treatment, which, introduced by Liebault and Bemheim, 
after a long and hard struggle had acquired a place in the 
technique of neurologists. It goes far deeper, however, into 
the structure of the mental mechanism and seeks to attain per- 
manent results and lasting changes as its objects. 

The hypnotic suggestion treatment, in its time, very soon 
passed the bounds of medical application and established itself 
in the service of education of young persons. If we may be- 
lieve the reports, it has proven itself an effective means of 
overcoming the faults of children, disturbing physical habits 
and traits of character otherwise incorrigible. No one raised 
objections at that time or expressed surprise over this extension 
of its field of usefulness which has become fully intelligible to 
us only by the aid of psychoanalytic investigation. For, to- 
day, we know that the pathological symptoms are often nothing 
else than substitute formations for bad, i. e. unsuitable, tenden- 

V 



vi INTRODUCTION 

cies, and that the conditions of the symptoms are established in - 
the years of childhood and adolescence — at the same time in 
which the individual is the object of education — whether the 
jnaladies actually appear in youth or only in a later period o|- 
life. 

Education and therapy now appear in a reciprocal relation 
to each other. Education will take care that from certain dis- 
positions and tendencies of the child, nothing harmful to the 
individual or society shall proceed. Therapy will come into 
play if these same dispositions have already caused the un- 
wished-for result of a pathological symptom. The other out- 
come, namely, that the unsuitable dispositions of the child have 
led, not to substitute formations in symptoms, but to direct 
character perversions, is almost inaccessible to therapy and 
most withdrawn from the influence of the educator. Educa- 
tion is a prophylaxis which should prevent both results, the 
rieurosis and the perversion; psychotherapy will render the 
more labile of the two results retroactive and institute a kind 
of re-education. 

In view of these facts, the question presents itself whether 
one may not utilize psychoanalysis for the purposes of educa- 
tion as the hypnotic suggestion has been utilized in its time. 
The advantages of this use of psychoanalysis would be obvious. 
The educator is prepared on the one hand, through his knowl- 
edge of the general human dispositions of childhood, to guess 
which of the childish dispositions threaten to attain an un- 
desired outlet and if psychoanalysis is of influence in such 
errors of development, he can bring it into use before the 
signs of an unfavorable development are established. Thus, 
he can influence children who are still healthy, prophylac- 
tically, by means of the analysis. On the other hand, he can 
detect the first signs of a development toward a neurosis or 
perversion and guard the child against such further develop- 
ment, at a time when, for a number of reasons, it would never 
be taken to a physician. One could conceive that such a psy- 
choanalytic activity on the part of the educator — and the 
pastor in Protestant countries who occupies a similar position 



INTRODUCTION vii 

— ^might afford invaluable assistance and often render the in- 
tervention of the physician superfluous. 

It may be asked whether the practice of psychoanalysis does 
n|6t presuppose a medical education which must remain lack- 
ing to the educator and pastor, or whether other relations are 
not antagonistic to the purpose of placing the psychoanalytic 
technique in other than medical hands. I confess that I see 
no such obstacles. The practice of psychoanalysis demands 
much less medical education than psychological preparation 
and free human insight; the majority of physicians, however, 
^are not fitted for the practice of psychoanalysis and have com- 
pletely failed in placing a correct valuation on this method of 
treatment. The educator and pastor are bound by the de- 
mands of their vocations to exercise the same consideration, 
forbearance and restraint which the physician is accustomed to 
observe and their being habitually associated with youth makes 
them perhaps better suited to have a sympathetic insight into 
the mental life of this class of persons. The guarantee for a 
harmless application of the psychoanalytic method can, how- 
ever, only be afforded in both cases by the personality of the 
analyst. 

The approach to the field of mental abnormalities will com- 
pel the analyzing educator to make himself familiar with the 
most exact psychiatric knowledge and to take the physician 
into consultation where the diagnosis and outcome of the dis- 
turbance may appear doubtful. In a number of cases, results 
will only come from mutual co-operation of educator and 
physician. 

In a single point, the responsibility of the educator may 
perhaps exceed that of the physician. The physician, as a 
rule, has to deal with mental formations already fixed and 
will find in the already developed individuality of the patient 
a boundary already established for his activity, but also a 
security for the patient's independence. The educator, how- 
ever, works on plastic material which is sensitive to every im- 
pression and he must observe the duty of not molding the 
young mental life according to his own personal ideals but 



viii INTRODUCTION 

rather according to the dispositions and possibilities inherent 
in the object. 

May the application of psychoanalysis in the service of 
education soon fulfill the hopes which educators and physi- 
cians attach to it! A book like this of Pfister's, which will 
make the analysis known to educators, will then be assured 
of the gratitude of future generations. 

Vienna, February, 1913. 






INTRODUCTION 
By G. Stanley Hall, President of Clark University 

This volume upon its appearance in German in 1913 at 
once took its place in the literature on the subject as the most 
adequate of several earlier compends that had appeared, both 
in German and English. I immediately adopted it as a refer- 
ence text for my own classes and even went so far as to make 
a rather lengthy epitome of it myself for the use of those mem- 
bers of my classes that were not familiar with German. The 
author has been intimately and personally associated with the 
psychoanalytic movement from the first, and has practical 
acquaintance with its technique, but is not a physician and 
approaches the subject in a way which, without being less 
serviceable to practitioners, makes the theme on the whole 
more accessible to laymen. He has the still greater advantage 
of having held sufficiently aloof from not only the controversies 
between Freud and Adler but those between what might be 
called the Vienna and the Zurich schools. The author's 
method here is to present each topic in a clear and concise way 
and then to illustrate it by cases. The translation is not only 
at once the most timely and will be welcome to all English- 
readers interested in the subject, but it is made by a thoroughly 
competent and experienced hand whose earlier translation of 
Hitschmann's ''Freud's Theory of the Neuroses" has been 
widely commended and widely used. Pfister certainly has 
rare ability to condense, elucidate and take us to the heart of 
problems, as may be seen in his pithy article lately printed 
in the American Journal of Psychology (January, 1915) on 
''Psychoanalysis and the Study of Children and Youth." 

G. Stanley Hall. 

Clark University, 

Worcester, Mass., May, 1915. 

VS. 



PREFACE 

When I had proceeded some ways on a special work on psy- 
choanalysis for psychologists, pedagogues and theologians, the 
"Herausgeber" of "Padagogium" (Prof. Dr. Messmer) sur- 
prised me with the advice to write a book on the same subject 
designed especially for the professional educator. Reluctantly 
I gave up the former alluring plan. The eloquence of Prof. 
Dr. Messmer and still more his own keen and understanding 
penetration into the spirit of pedanalysis, as well as other 
pleasing observations among our mutual colleagues, convinced 
me that the pedagogues, because of their mental equipment and 
their longing for the great thing here represented, were especi- 
ally well prepared in advance. I was also compelled to see 
that an impartial attention to the interests of three professional 
circles would have too greatly expanded my book. 

Futhermore, there is only one theory and technique of 
psychoanalysis. Therefore, psychologists and theologians, as 
well as my brother educators, for whom my book is intended, 
can use it as an introduction to the investigation of the un- 
conscious submerged forces in their fields. Indeed, if certain 
medical leaders of psychoanalysis are right, even physicians 
will gain in the following work an explanation of the funda- 
mental presuppositions of their analytic labors since the 
book marks the first attempt at a systematic presentation of 
pyschoanalysis derived by induction. 

As a book of one seeker of truth intended for other seekers, 
the following investigations are intended. I wished, not so 
much to show what splendid things we have accomplished, as 
rather by the proof of indisputable results of greater range 
to awaken a desire for new and perhaps still greater conquests. 

xi 



Xll 



PREFACE 



Therefore, I have presented pyschoanalysis as a growing 
method, struggling toward knowledge, constantly broadening 
its field of influence by sturdy efforts. 

Many critics and laity will reproach me for not giving a 
confident answer to important questions. Certain psycho- 
analysts will insist that where they themselves have attained 
certainty, it should be demanded of me, and certain inquisitive 
ones who prefer to have their mental food served well-done, 
will receive my conservatism ungraciously. In defence, I 
can only present the shield of my scientific conscience and hope 
for the support of those for whom co-operation in the solution 
of great problems, the exploration of the virgin land of great 
promise but also of great difficulties, affords a greater attraction 
than the visiting of well-mapped lands. 

Expressions of criticism, I look upon as sincere desire for 
knowledge. I know that my first pedanalytic attempt goes 
forth into the world with not a few defects and am therefore 
very susceptible to expert instruction. Thus far, criticism 
hostile to analj^sis suffers throughout from a fatal disease 
which I would call ''ontophobia," fear of the facts. It will 
be sad for me if my work also falls into ontophobic hands, 
for it is intended only for those who test for themselves, those 
who are hungry for facts. 

With a few insignificant exceptions, I am not going into 
polemics. He who does not understand that holy "tolle, lege, ' ' 
"take, read !" which points to the book of reality as the instru- 
ment of delivery from error and bondage, is not to be won by 
ever so striking dialectic means. 

Not because of the opponents but out of love for the truth, 
I have laid great stress on the proof that the much calumniated 
and more than once misused psychoanalysis, is not only com- 
patible with the highest ethical and religious demands but ab- 
solutely presupposes them, something which the very malicious 
and ignorant ones may laugh at. The analysis has strength- 
ened me in the conviction that the human being is in no way 
merely a sexual being of the highest order (which no psycho- 
analyst has ever asserted) but that the varied mental wealth 



PREFACE xiii 

and noble characteristics which the idealistic philosophy has 
found in him, really belong to him. To be sure, I could not 
avoid the insight that the sexual life possesses a far higher 
significance in our mental household than the traditional 
psychology — in contrast to many poets and other students of 
humanity — is willing to admit. The closer investigation im- 
mediately showed, however, that the sexual life may be most 
intimately bound up with the affairs of the mind so that the 
purely animal in it, being the less important, is forcibly 
crowded into the background. We are also not shocked by 
the fact that in art, poetry, morality and even religion, love 
plays a predominant role and that Jesus makes a definite love, 
a primary commandment. Gounod says beautifully: "The 
law of life, like the law of art, is described in the saying of St. 
Augustine: *Love is all,' " "Why should anyone become ex- 
cited when also in disease of the mind, in the dream, in ap- 
parently accidental acts, in short, in all performances in which 
mind has a part, the influence of love comes to light ? 

In conclusion, I wish to thank most heartily those who have 
contributed in the preparation of this book, first of all. Prof. 
Dr. Freud who aided me with excellent advice and active 
interest ; further. Dr. Jung, who, after the completion of the 
manuscript, most kindly called my attention to a number of 
improvements. Finally, I thank most sincerely Prof. Dr. Mess- 
mer who placed most freely at my disposal his psychological 
library and his intimate knowledge of the most recent psychol- 
ogy and in addition had the kindness to prepare the index. 

Now may the work, in spite of its imperfection, prove a 
blessing to the noble work of education and help the pedagogues 
to an acquirement of that which psychoanalysis brought me : 
an immeasurable enrichment of scientific investigation and 
practical knowledge ! 

OsKAB Pfister. 
Zurich, May, 1913. 



TRANSLATOR'S NOTE 

Those who have read the original Grerman edition of this 
book will notice several changes in the translation. The au- 
thor entirely revised the book in 1915 and sent me these 
revisions and changes to be incorporated in my translation. 
This revision has been carried out exactly as ordered. The 
only other change from the original edition is the omission of 
chapter two which deals with the philosophical aspects of the 
subject. 

C. R. Payne. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction: By Sigmund Freud • • ^ jl i. - y. • "^ 

Introduction: By G. Stanley Hall . ix 

Preface ...... xi 

Translator's Note xv 

I Definition and History of Psychoanalysis . . 1 

PART I. THE THEORY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 

II The Psychoanalytic Conception op an Uncon- 
scious 21 

Section 1. The Repression and Fixation 

III The Unconscious as Product of Repression and 

as Entity Free from Repression 48 

IV The Individual Repressed Material 60 

V The Repressing Force 91 

VI The Infantile Roots op the Repression in Detail 113 

VII The Repression Process 141 

VIII The General Conditions 154 

Section 2. Retrogressions op the Repression, Fixa- 
tion AND Repulsion 
(The Manifestations) 

IX The Physical Manifestations 173 

X The Most Important Psychic Paths . . . . . 192 

XI The Content of the Manifestations 258 

XII The Forms of the Manifestations 328 

XIII The Meaning op the Manifestations . ... . 416 

xvii 



xviii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PART II. TECHNIQUE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 

Section 1. The Methods 
chapter page 

XIV The Fundamental Rule op Psychoanalysis and its 

Application 429 

XV Supplementary Methods 436 

Section 2. The Effects of the Psychoanalytic 

Probing 

XVI The Abreaction 446 

XVII Compensation, Recasting op the Complex and 

Transference 457 

XVIII Rendering Life-Problems Conscious and Compre- 
hending Them by the Aid of Analysis . . . 477 

Section 3. The Course of the Psychoanalytic 
Treatment 

XIX The Beginning of the Analytic Educational Work 
with Especial Regard to the Over-Coming of 
THE Resistance 490 

XX The Material of the Treatment and Its Analytic 

Handling 500 

XXI The Duration and Conclusion op the Psycho- 
analysis 507 

Section 4. The Prerequisites op the Psychoanalysis 
XXII The Prerequisites in the Analyst 513 

XXIII The Prerequisites in the Subject of Analysis . 518 

Section 5. The Practice op Pedanalysis 

XXIV Learning Pedanalysis 524 

XXV The Domain op the Pedanalysis 529 

Conclusion: Results of Psychoanalysis 

XXVI The Practical Benefits .• • • 535 

XXVII The Results for Pedagogy ........ 544 

Index 581 



LIST OF ILLIJSTRATIONS 



PACING 
PAGE 



\y- 



Self-Portrait 390 

Kequiem 394^ 

Madness ...•>.... 398^ 



CHAPTER I 
DEFINITION AND HISTORY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 

Psychoanalysis, as its name denotes, concerns itself with 
the separation of mental processes into their constituent ele- 
ments. We might, indeed, conjure up all kinds of harm if we 
did not at once warn against considering this provisional state- 
ment as an exact definition. 

There has been analysis of psychic phenomena since prehis- 
toric times. The psychologist who separates the contents of 
consciousness into its constituent parts and traces them back 
to their causes, the historian of art who seeks the origin of an 
important creation, the biographer who is engrossed in the de- 
velopment of his hero, the physician who attempts to elucidate 
the compelling motives of a melancholia, the educator who en- 
deavors to understand the mental condition of his pupil, in 
short, everyone who is intent upon penetrating the mental life 
of others would be, according to the statement heading our 
train of thought, a psychoanalyst. In reality, not a few repre- 
sentatives of ancient traditions, in view of the results of the 
successfully advancing movement which bears the distinctive 
name, pride themselves that they have already done psycho- 
analysis for decades. 

They would be quite right if the meaning of the word was 
derived by merely splitting it into its parts. The name has, 
however, gained its content by an historical process, to over- 
look which would create a fatal confusion. In order to escape 
the annoying cobwebs and arrive at the correct definition, we 
have to present in detail how the originator of the name and 
the very special procedure connoted by the same, reached his 
theory and technique. We shall see that the criterion of 
psychoanalysis lies in a special kind of inquiry into the uncon- 

1 



2 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

scious mental processes which powerfully influence the con- 
scious life. 

In the year 1893, Sigmund Freud * published, in collabora- 
tion with his colleague, Josef Breuer, an epoch-making article 
entitled ''Concerning the Psychic Mechanism of Hysterical 
Phenomena" ("tJber den psychischen Mechanismus hys- 
terischer Phanomene"). In order to understand the funda- 
mental ideas of this short but important work, it is advisable 
to investigate its connection with the father of the hysteria 
investigation, J. M. Charcot of Paris (1893). The celebrated 
director of the Salpetriere was the first person to free hys- 
terical individuals from the stigma of ridiculousness, earnestly 
to study and systematically to arrange their symptoms, in 
doing which,' he was also able to demonstrate hysteria in the 
male sex. Especially important was his discovery, made by 
researchers on hypnotized patients, that the hysterical paraly- 
ses which appear after severe emotional shock, the socalled 
traumatic f paralyses, arise from ideas which control the per- 
sons in moments of special dispositions. The motor disturb- 
ances may be produced t in hypnosis and even in suggestion. 

These results at first exercised no effect on therapeutic 
methods. Charcot remained true to physical and chemical 
procedures. He advised pressing on the ovarian region at 
short intervals, under certain circumstances for hours, in order 
to lessen the severity of the convulsive attacks or indeed to dis- 
sipate II them. To overcome an hysterical epileptical con- 
ditidn, he ordered ether or amyl nitrite.lf 

One of his pupils, Pierre Janet, cured a case of complicated 
traumatic hysteria by taking the patient in the hypnotic state 
back to the time when the shock was received and suggesting 

* Sigmund Freud, born May 6, 1858, in Freiberg, Moravia, Austria, 
is to-day Professor of Neurology in the University of Vienna. 

t From "trauma," wound, thus about: caused by injury. 

t Sigmund Freud, Sammlung kleiner Schriften zur Neurosenlehre 
I, p. 12. 

II J. M. Charcot, LeQons sur les maladies du systeme nerveux, 5th 
ed., Paris, Vol. I (1884), pp. 339, 400. 

If P. 401 f. 



CHARCOT AND JANET 3 

that the shock was harmless. Wa will quote the account of 
this instructive process for the reader 's perusal : 

Marie, a girl of nineteen years, suffered upon her admission 
to the institution from periodic convulsions and deliria. Be- 
fore the beginning of her menstrual periods, her character 
changed, she became gloomy and violent and had pains in all 
her limbs together with nervous disturbances. Barely twenty 
hours after the onset of the flow, the menstruation would sud- 
denly cease, a severe chill would shake her whole body and a 
severe pain slowly ascend from body to throat and the great 
hysterical crises begin. The violent convulsions were soon 
succeeded by deliria. Now, the patient uttered cries of terror, 
meanwhile talking constantly of blood and fire and fleeing to 
escape the flames, now she played like a child, spoke with her 
mother and climbed on the stove or furniture. Delirium and 
convulsions alternated with short intermissions for forty-eight 
hours. After repeated vomiting of blood, the normal con- 
dition gradually returned. Between these major monthly at- 
tacks, Marie had minor muscular contractures, various chang- 
ing anesthesias (entire loss of sensation) and in particular, 
complete and constant blindness of the left eye. 

For seven months the disease resisted all medical pro- 
cedures. Especially did suggestive measures regarding the 
menstruation have only bad effects and increased the deliria. 

The hypnotic investigation yielded the following: At the 
age of thirteen, about twenty hours after the onset of the first 
menstruation, Marie, impelled by false shame, secretly took a 
cold bath, by which the flow was suddenly interrupted. At 
the same time there appeared severe chills and delirium lasting 
for days. When, after five years, the menstrual periods re- 
turned, they brought the above described condition with them. 
Thus, the patient repeated the bath scene monthly without 
knowing it. 

The cure did not succeed by the mere hypnotic removal of 
the fixed idea. Only when the patient in hypnosis had been 
taken back to the age of thirteen, could the conviction be 
awakened that the menstrual period would normally come to 



4 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

an end in a course of three days. Immediately, no further 
periodic disturbances were to be seen in the patient. 

The cries of terror were explained by the circumstance that 
Marie, when sixteen years old, saw an old woman killed by a 
fall from the stairs. With considerable trouble, the girl was 
shown in artificial sleep that the old woman only stumbled and 
had not died. The cries ceased from that moment. 

Most difficult was the explanation of the hysterical blind- 
ness. Finally, it was discovered that Marie, when six years 
old, had been compelled one day in spite of her outcries, to 
sleep with a child of similar age which had scrofula on the 
whole left side of its face. Soon after, Marie developed the 
same trouble on the same place. When the scrofula disap- 
peared, it left behind anesthesia of the left half of the face and 
blindness of the left eye. Again the girl was taken back to the 
time of the first shock. The physician pictured the pretty 
comrade entirely free from scrofula. At the second repetition 
of the scene, the now convinced patient caressed the imaginary 
child and upon awakening could see perfectly normally.* 

The method applied by Pierre Janet, although recognized t 
by Delboeuf and Binet as an effective means of treatment; 
was not considered a regular method nor established theoret- 
ically. 

An accidental discovery, the enormous importance of which 
its fortunate discoverer himself did not sufficiently appreciate, 
opened up new paths. In the years 1880-82 the Vienna 
physician. Dr. Josef Breuer, was engaged with a famous 
patient.t The girl, aged twenty-one, suffered from severe 
hysteria, the most important symptom of which consisted of 
paralysis and anesthesia of the limbs on the right (less often 
left) side of the body, of squinting, cough and other physical 
troubles. The walls seemed to be falling on the patient. Two 
sharply differentiated mental conditions could be noted: 

* Pierre Janet, L'automatisme psychologique, Paris, 1889, pp. 436- 
440. 

t Freud, Sammlung kleiner Schriften I, p. 18, 1909. 

t Breuer & Freud, Studien iiber Hysterie. Leipzig & Vienna, Deu- 
ticke, 1895, 2d ed., 1909. 



BREUER AND FREUD 5 

One, almost normal, which was distinguished only by sadness 
and another, abnormal condition of extreme excitement which 
was often accompanied by hallucinations. The power of 
speech disappeared and for two weeks the patient was dumb. 
One day when she was sitting on her father's bed, she saw a 
snake which would bite her. In the attempt to ward off the 
reptile, she noticed that the fingers of her hand changed into 
snakes with death's heads. From fear, she attempted to pray 
but could recall only an English child's prayer. From that 
hour, without noticing it, she spoke only English and no 
longer understood her mother tongue. In unconsciousness, 
she murmured some words. When one of these words was 
kept before her, she phantasied an episode from which she 
received a certain ease of mind. A year after the death of 
her father, the two conditions changed so that the patient 
lived as a normal person in the present but repeated from day 
to day, in the abnormal state, the events of the preceding 
year, as the mother could substantiate from a diary she 
kept. 

Though this clinical history already affords enough of 
striking nature, another particularly important circumstance 
was added. When Breuer had dictated to the hysterical 
patient in hypnosis what she had whispered in her unconscious 
state (absence), she gave an account of the whole phantasy 
from which those words came. It showed that the scattered 
words were like the flag appearing above a wall, behind which 
was marching a body of troops bearing it. If the events which 
had caused the symptom could be successfully drawn out, then 
the cessation of the pathological phenomenon followed the 
oral description. For example, the fear of water, the girl 
traced back to the impression that a dirty little dog had drunk 
from a glass without her being able to raise any objection. 
After this memory, the aversion to the drinking of water dis- 
appeared. The squint and exaggeration of visual objects went 
back to the circumstance that the girl with tears in her eyes, 
had brought the clock close to her face in order to tell the time. 
When the whole story of suffering had been traced back to its 



6 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

causes, her health had also completely and permanently re- 
turned. 

From these and similar phenomena, Breuer and Freud, who 
urged his colleague to publish the material which he had been 
gathering for more than a decade, drew the following con- 
clusions; Very many of the hysterical symptoms are occa- 
sioned by an idea which occurs to the patient with strong 
affect at a time of sleepiness (166). In case the latter is not 
conducted along normal mental association paths and, as you 
might say, distributed, it jumps to abnormal physical and 
mental paths and produces the hysterical phenomenon. Thus, 
the hysterical individual suffers, as we may say, in great 
part, from reminiscences. The cure is effected by bringing 
that reminiscence accompanied by its suitable excitement into 
consciousness and then allowing it to fade away normally. 
To put it differently, the pent-up affect is brought into con- 
sciousness and carried out in speech or removed by medical 
suggestion; it ''is abreacted." Since Breuer 's intelligent 
patient gave the name of ''chimney-sweeping" ("Kamin- 
fegen") to the talking treatment, which had been tried on her, 
her fortunate discoverer called the method the "cathartic 
method" (from KaOatpetv to purify). Its differentiation from 
that of Janet's lies in the fact that a bit of the patient's past, 
which is lost to his memory, namely the occasion of the disease, 
is rendered conscious, and on the other hand, the intentional 
bringing at the same time of a suggested idea standing in con- 
tradiction to the pathological idea, is given up. We again 
call attention to the fact that hypnosis and abreaction, the 
speaking out of a forgotten but affectful traumatic happening 
which has hurt the mind, now brought back to consciousness, 
constitute the essential features of the cathartic method. 

Breuer and Freud presented the views thus gained in a 

- short preliminary publication * and again in the book, 

"Studies in Hysteria" ("Studien iiber Hysterie" t) which 

* Breuer & Freud, tjber den psycliisclien Mechanismus hysterisclier 
Phanomene. Neurolog. Zentralblatt, 1893, Nos. 1 & 2. 

t Leipzig and Vienna, Deutieke, 2d ed., 1909. (The citations refer 
to the latter edition.) 



BREUER AND FREUD 7 

appeared in 1895. This important work contains in Freud's 
contributions the fundamental ideas which led to the psycho- 
analytic method. We will mention the most important: 
Many hysterical symptoms, for example visions, express sym- 
bolically ideas which may be found below the threshold of 
consciousness (51, 157ff.). This idea was once conscious but 
on account of its painful character, was repressed (99, 145, 
235) ; some of its parts, however, still break through into 
ordinary consciousness (57). All hysteria rests on such re- 
pression (250). The content of the repressed idea is of sexual 
nature (224) and various analogous causes must be present 
to produce the symptom (63, 229). Hypnosis* can be dis- 
pensed with (92f.) but the resistance which the patient pre- 
sents against the repressed ideas being brought into con- 
sciousness must be overcome by strong pressure (234f.). Al- 
ready, Freud ventures on the interpretation of dreams, with- 
out, however, recognizing the importance of these in the treat- 
ment of hysterical troubles (57). Impressions of earliest 
childhood are already given attention (115). Also that phe- 
nomenon to which Freud later, when he had lost faith in the 
omnipotence of abreaction, ascribed the determining influence 
in the healing process, the socalled "transference," is in good 
part outlined. Of this, Freud knew that the patient trans- 
ferred upon the physician some of the painful ideas emerging 
from the unconscious during the analysis (266f.), thus, for 
example, the wish cherished for a kiss from another man would 
be changed to a similar wish toward the physician. Mit- 
tenzwey is greatly in error when he believes that Freud's 
progress beyond Breuer's ideas at this epoch consists merely 
in the extension of the method to all the neuroses, in the 
introduction of the term "defence" ("Abwehr") and the 
exclusively sexual causation of the neuroses, f 

One peculiarity of the Freudian method may now be 

* Authors like Forel and Frank (Die Psychanalyse (1909), Munich, 
Reinhardt) who speak well of psychoanalysis but cling to hypnosis, are 
adherents of the "cathartic" but not of the psychoanalytic conception. 

t K. Mittenzwey, Versuch zu einer Darstellung und Kritik der Freud- 
schen Neurosenlehre. Zeitschrift fiir Pathopsychologie I (1912), p. 413. 



8 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

pointed out : Freud allows his patient to tell without criticism 
everything which comes into his head while in the physician 's 
presence. Where he observes gaps or striking discrepancies, 
he directs the apperception directly to these points and has the 
patient give associations to them. The associations thus col- 
lected, he submits to a method of interpretation which he has 
developed from many years of experience; the independent 
substantiation of this method, no regular analyst can or will 
avoid. The essential features of Freud's psychoanalysis are, 
in addition to the abandonment of hypnosis, an association 
and interpretation method. In these sentences, we have given 
the characteristics of the psychoanalytic method. 

It is now high time to give the reader an answer to a ques- 
tion which must have gradually aroused his impatience. How 
does all this concern the educator? Professionally, he has 
nothing to do with hysterical individuals. I cannot better 
answer the justifiable interpolation than by continuing with 
my sketch of the history of the development of psycho- 
analysis. 

Freud recognized ever more clearly that the processes which 
produced nervous disturbances are also of highest influence 
on the mental life of normal individuals and can be equally 
well studied in them. Without being unfaithful to the med- 
ical interest, the Vienna neurologist developed a new kind of 
psychology which penetrated to the unconscious causes of 
mental performances. He once defined psychoanalysis as 
''the investigation of the unconscious part of the individual 
mental life."* For a long time astute judges of human 
nature had asserted that many of the highest performances of 
the mind were created, not in the laboratory of conscious 
thinking, feeling and willing, but in the subterranean cham- 
bers which had often been denominated as the unconscious. 
Schiller describes this conception in the familiar lines : 

"As in the air the storm wind blows, 
"■ One knows not whence it comes or goes, 
As the spring gushes forth from liidden depths, 

* Freud, Das Tabu und die Ambivalenz, Imago I (1912), p. 220. 



FREUD'S PSYCHOLOGY 9 

So comes the poet's song from within 
And awakes the power of dim emotions 
Which wonderfully slumber in the heart." * 

Again Schiller says: *'Tlie unconscious united with dis- 
cretion makes the poetic artist. ' ' t 

Also, artistic inspiration, religious experience (James, 
''Religious Experience," 443f., 461-467), indeed even philo- 
sophical speculation (Nietzsche) have long ago been traced 
back to mental processes lying under the threshold of con- 
sciousness. 

Freud's investigations not only substantiate these surmises 
but also afford the proof that the whole conscious mental life, 
especially on its affective side, is ruled and directed by such 
subconscious ("subliminal" from limen, threshold) motives. 
Freud and his pupils are interested, first of all, in the neuroses 
(popularly, nervous diseases) and mental diseases in which 
anatomical anomalies are not demonstrable, the socalled func- 
tional psychoses, then further, in numerous affairs of nor- 
mal mental functions which had been partly treated cur- 
sorily as mysterious, partly left unobserved. In 1900, ap- 
peared Freud's "Traumdeutung" $ (''Interpretation of 
Dreams" $), the most comprehensive, perhaps also the most 
important work of the author. He who would judge it, must 
certainly overcome his aversion to the mysterious title and 
his resistance to a not unimportant mental product. Further, 
he cannot avoid the trouble of working over a number of his 
own or another's dreams according to Freud's formulse. Oth- 
erwise, it is obvious that an acceptable scientific judgment 
cannot be formed. 

In 1901, appeared Freud's book, *'Psychopathology of 
Everyday Life" ("Zur Psychopathologie des AUtags" i|) on 
forgetting, errors in speech, superstition and mistakes. In 

* Compare my article : Anwendungen der Psychanalyse in der 
Padagogik und Seelsorge, Imago I (1912), pp. 55-82. 

t From 0. Eank, Das Tnzestmotiv in Dichtung \md Sage, p. 1. 

i Leipzig and Vienna, Deuticke, 2d ed., 1909, 3rd ed., 1911. Also 
English translation by Brill of New York. 

II Berlin, Karger, 2d ed., 1907. 



10 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

this work, the writer seeks to prove that the actions mentioned, 
in the subtitle, as well as many other accidental or apparently 
meaningless acts, frequently come from unconscious motives 
and owe their origin to the same mechanism which prevails in 
the dream, neurosis and functional psychosis. In 1905, fol- 
lowed an extensive investigation of wit and its relation to 
the unconscious.* In 1907, Freud considered the foundation 
of religious psychology in his article, "Obsessional Acts and 
Religious Practices" (''Zwangshandlungen und Religionsii- 
bung " t ) . The same year, pedagogy received its first atten- 
tion from a psychoanalyst in the open letter on the "Sexual 
Enlightenment of Children" ("Zur sexuellen Aufklarung der 
Kinder" J). These works were followed in 1908 by the first 
psychoanalytic treatment of a literary work, entitled, "The 
Delusion and Dreams in "W. Jensen's 'Gradiva' " ("Der 
Wahn und die Traume in W. Jensen's Gradiva"||). Psy- 
chology of children which had already been taken as a field for 
analytic investigation as early as 1905, in "Three Contribu- 
tions to the Sexual Theory" ("Drei Abhandlungen zur Sex- 
ualtheorie") received in 1908 the first work specially devoted 
to the subject in the article "Concerning Infantile Sexual 
Theories" ("Uber infantile Sexualtheorien" IT). The views 
set forth there were substantiated in the "Analysis of the 
Phobia of a Five Year Old Boy" ("Analyse der Phobie eines 
fiinfjahrigen Knaben" §). Into the domain of ethics, Freud 
entered in 1908 with the essay, "Cultural Sexual Morality and 
Modern Nervousness" ("Die kulturelle Sexualmoral und die 
moderne Nervositat" **). The psychology of poetry and art 
received new elucidation in the article, ' ' Poet and Phantasy ' ' 

* Leipzig and Vienna, Deuticke. 

t Kleiner Sehriften II, 122-131. (Originally in tlie Zeitschrift fiir 
Eeligionspsychologie, I, Part 1.) 

tSame, pp. 151-158. 

II 1910. 

1[Pp. 159-174. 

§ Jahrbuch fiir psychoanalytische und. psychopathologisclie For- 
schungen, I (1910), pp. 1-109. 

** Kleine Sehriften, II, pp. 175-196. 



BEGINNINGS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 11 

("Der Dichter und das Phantasieren " (1908) * and in the 
monograph "A Childhood Reminiscence of Leonardo da 
Vinci "^ ("Eine Kindheitserinnerung des Leonardo da Vinci") 
(1910). t Finally, in 1910, Freud published glimpses into 
philology in his short article, * ' Concerning the Contradictory 
Meanings of Primitive Words" ("tJber den Gegensinn der 
Urworte")4 

For a long time no attention was paid to psychoanalysis. 
Its results called forth some respectful bows but mostly only 
a shaking of heads. The first persons to second Freud in 
scientific publications were C. G. Jung,l| psychiatrist in 
Zurich and his chief, E. Bleuler,1f Professor of Psychiatry and 
Director of the Cantonal Institute for the Insane. After these 
two investigators, in spite of the fiercest hostility, recognized 
the correctness of Freud 's assertions, the movement which had 
previously been received in dead silence, soon became discussed 
in the farthest circles. In the spring of 1908, the adherents 
of the new psychology assembled in Salzburg and arranged for 
the publication of a periodical journal as an organ for the 
propagation of their ideas. As a result there has appeared 
annually in two impressive half -volumes, the "Jahrbuch fiir 
psychoanalytische und psychopathologische Forschungen" 
(Vol. I, Part I, 1909) (Yearbook for Psychoanalytic and Psy- 
chopathological Investigations). The series of pamphlets de- 
voted to applied psychology (''Schriften zur angewandten 

* Kleine Schriften, II, pp. 197-206. 

t Schriften zur angewandten Seelenkunde, Part 7. 

t Jahrbuch, Vol. II, pp. 179-184. 

II Jung, Ein Fall von hysterisehem Stupor bei einer Untersuchungs- 
gefangenen. Journal f. Psychologie und Neurologie, Vol. I, 1902. Die 
psychologische Bedeutung des Assoziationsexperimentes, Arehiv f. Krim- 
inalanthrop. Vol. 22, p. 145. Exper. Beobaclitungen ilber d. Erinner- 
ungsvermogen. Zbl. f. Nervenheilk. und Psycbiatrie, Year XXVIII 
(1905), etc. See the index to the literature in the Jahrbueh, Vol. II, 
pp. 363-375. 

% Freudsche Mechanismen in der Symptomatologie von Psychosen. 
Psychiatr.-neurolog. Wochenschrift 1906. AffektivitJit, SuggestibilitJit, 
Paranoia. Halle, 1906, contributions in the "Diagnostischen Assozia- 
tionsstudien" edited by Jung. 



1« THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Seelenkunde"*) edited by Freud is constantly growing. 
The Congress sitting at Niirmberg in 1909 concluded the for- 
mation of the International Psychoanalytic Association which 
soon had sections in Vienna, Zurich, Berlin, New York and 
Munich. For the U. S. and Canada, a general American as- 
sociation was founded. Since the "Yearbook" could not 
contain the wealth of scientific material, t two new periodicals 
appeared: In 1910, the "Zentralblatt fiir Psychoanalyse," a 
medical monthly for mental problems t and in 1912, the bi- 
monthly Imago, a journal for the application of psychoanalysis 
to the mental sciences.] | Since January, 1913, there has ap- 
peared the "Internationale Zeitschrift fiir arztliche Psycho- 
analyse" (published by Heller, Vienna, 18 marks a year; 
edited by Ferenczi and Rank). 

In November, 1913, appeared the first number of an Ameri- 
can quarterly devoted to psychoanalysis. This is the Psycho- 
analytic Review, edited by Drs. William A. White of Washing- 
ton and Smith Ely Jelliffe of New York City. 

In the first number of Imago, we find a list of all articles 
in the field of mental sciences published up to the end of 1911. 
It names almost two hundred articles from the fields of 
psychology, sexual-, dream-, everyday-, and child-psychology, 
pedagogy and theory of morals, characterology, biography, 

*Up to the end of 1912, thirteen parts: 1. Freud, "Gradiva." 2. 
Riklin, Wunscherfiillung und Symbolik in Milrchen. 3. Jung, Der In- 
halt der Psychose. 4. Abraham, Traum und Mythus. 5. Rank, Der 
Mythus von der Geburt des Helden. 6. Sadger, Aus d. Liebesleben 
Nikolaus Lenaus. 7. Freud, Eine Kindheitserinnerung des Leonardo 
da Vinci. 8. Pfister, Die Frommigkeit des Graf en L. v. Zinzendorf. 
9. Graf, Rich. Wagner im "Fliegenden Hollander." 10. Jones, Das 
Problem des Hamlet un der 5dipus-Komples. 11. Abraham, Giovanni 
Segantini. 12. Storfer, Zur Sonderstellung des Vatermordes. 13. 
Rank, Die Lohengrinsage. 14. Jones, Der Alptraum in s. Beziehung 
zu gew. Formen d. mittelalterl. Aberglaubens. 

t Vol. I, 594 pp., Vol. II, 747 pp., Vol. Ill, 857 pp.. Vol. IV, Part 1, 
606 pp. 

t Published by Bergmann, Wiesbaden. 18 Marks per year. Edited 
by W. Stekel. Suspended publication in 1914. 

II Hugo Heller, Vienna. 15 Marks per year. Edited by H. Sachs 
and O. Rank. 



SPREAD OF PSYCHOANALYSIS IS 

esthetics, mythology, religious-, speech-, social- and criminal- 
psychology. 

Among pedagogic journals, two have entered the service of 
psychoanalysis: at the beginning of 1912, the Berner Semi- 
narbldtter, journal for school reform, organ of the Swiss 
Pedagogic Association, issued under the auspices of Dr. 
Ernst Schneider, Director of the Higher Seminary in Bern, 
in conjunction with Prof. Dr. Oskar Messmer in Rorschach, 
Dr. Otto von Greyerz in Glarisegg and the author of this book. 
Some months later, the ' ' Monatshef te fiir Padagogik und 
Schulreform" (Vienna) was won by Alfred Adler for 
psychoanalysis. 

The first pedagogues who publicly recognized the im- 
portance of psychoanalysis were Prof. Adolf Liithi, who in 
1910 in the yearbook of the " Unterrichtswesens in der Sweiz" 
(page 197) reviewed in most friendly manner my first peda- 
gogic articles of psychoanalytic nature, further Prof. Dr. E. 
Meumann,* Prof. Dr. 0. Messmer, f and Dr. P. Haberlin,$ 
Privatdozent of Philosophy in Basel, who had previously, 
while Seminary Director of the Thurganischen Lehrerbil- 
dungsanstalt in Kreuzlingen, extensively practiced the new 
pedagogic method. Pastors who have entered the literary 
field in favor of psychoanalysis are A. Waldburger |1 in 
Ragaz, the Calvinist, Th. Johner,1[ a conservative theologian, 
and Adolf Keller in Zurich. 

Two or three years ago the reproach was hurled at the 
psychoanalyst that aside from Freud and Bleuler, whose im- 
portance no one disputed, no university teacher had joined the 

* Meumann, Padag. Jahresber. 1910, 63rd Year, Leipzig, p. 134. 

t Messmer, Die Psychoanalyse u. 1. pad. Bedeutung. Berner Semin- 
arblatter, V, Part 9 (1911)/ 

f Haberlin, Sexualgespenster. SexTialprobleme, Vol. VIII, pp. 96- 
106 (1912). 

II Waldburger, Psychanalyt. Seelsorge u. Moralpadagogik. (Prot. 
Monatsbefte, XIII (1909), pp. 110-114. A defence of my article which 
appeared in the same journal.) 

H Johner, Die Psychoanalyse im bernischen Kant. Pfarrverein. Der 
Kirchenfreund (Basel), XlIv (1910) No. 24. 



14 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

new school. To-day this criticism, which many consider unen- 
durable, has already disappeared. A constantly increasing 
number of high school teachers, in spite of a threatened boy- 
cott and much derision, have joined the outlawed psychoan- 
alytic association. The following are analysts: the psychi- 
atrist of Bern University, Prof, von Speyr, the neurologist of 
Harvard University, Prof. James J. Putnam, a man of wide 
experience and great philosophical attainments, further, the 
professors of psychiatry, Ernest Jones (Toronto), Adolf Meyer 
(Baltimore), August Hoch (New York), Davidson (Toronto), 
Jelliffe (New York), White (Washington). Among the psy- 
chologists is the first college president to acknowledge Freud, 
the influential founder of experimental religious psychology, G. 
Stanley Hall; among investigators of speech, P. C. Prescott, 
Professor of the History of English Literature in New York 
and H. Sperber in Upsala; among the representatives of in- 
ternal medicine. Prof. R. Morichau-Beauchant in Poitiers. A 
large number of other investigators, especially in Germany and 
Switzerland, accept psychoanalysis in its important points. 
This rapid spread of a theory which had such a tremendous 
resistance against it, within a very few years, is nothing short of 
marvelous. 

In spite of the large number of publications, it is to be re- 
gretted that the literary work has not kept pace with the 
practical and theoretical advance. Very many results espe- 
cially important for pedagogy are scarcely touched upon in psy- 
choanalytic journals. Of the analytic educational work with 
pupils, who, without being really ill, still because of inner in- 
hibitions, make themselves and their families unhappy, there is 
almost no mention anywhere. How the hitherto unobserved 
impressions of childhood control the whole later development 
of the normal individual, even to the peculiarity of his style, 
his choice of a vocation and of a wife, as well as the most insig- 
nificant subordinate affairs, finds too little discussion. The 
enormous loss of love for fello^vmen and of power for work 
which many individuals suffer, mostly without knowing it, as 
a result of unfavorable educational influences, have not, up to 



APPLICATION OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 15 

the present time, been given their proper weight in the litera- 
ture. I gave a few examples of this in my article, ' ' Applica- 
tions of Psychoanalysis in Pedagogy and Pastoral Care" 
("Anwendungen der Psychoanalyse in der Padagogik und 
Seelsorge" *). I described eases of untruthfulness, klepto- 
mania, tormenting of animals, destructive rage, aversion to 
work, dislike of certain foods, meaningless gestures, portentous 
corporal punishment, withholding of sexual enlightenment, 
eccentric gaits, pathological hate, hysterical physical defects as 
a pedagogic problem, creation of hobgoblins out of the uncon- 
scious in choice of a husband or wife, unhappy marriages as 
result of psychic traumata of youth, religious abnormalities 
from similar causes. From these experiences chosen at ran- 
dom, I drew the conclusion : Countless numbers of persons who 
bring heart-breaking grief to their parents and other people 
and cannot help bringing it because they are under neurotic 
obsessions, can by the aid of analysis be changed into agreeable 
useful individuals.! The proof for the correctness of this as- 
sertion which ought to have emphasized the difSeulty of the 
analytic work more strongly, I hope to afford in the present 
book. 

Corresponding to the external modifications in the psycho- 
analytic movement, there are internal changes which are much 
too little noticed by those not intimately associated with it. 
Many a justifiable reproach from the side of its opponents ap- 
plies to the analysis as once practiced but not to the present 
method. It is obvious that so new and penetrating a method of 
investigation was and is subject to errors. That which once 
appeared to the astonished gaze of the discoverer as evident 
certainty, discloses here and there to closer observation other 
causal connections. Where from a number of coincident re- 
sults, a comprehensive principle was derived, later, contradic- 
tory observations, setting the earlier formula against a new one, 
may compel a hypothesis embracing both the old and the newest 
knowledge. This transition is common to all sciences and it 

* Imago, I, pp. 56-82 (1912). 
t P. 77. 



16 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

would not be just to forge weapons against the method from 
this adaptation to the progress of experience. I am not at all 
averse to voicing the opinion that psychoanalytic science has 
very much to learn and will learn from the observation of 
earnest pedagogues and any critical co-worker who discloses 
errors and ambiguities will be most welcome. 

I shall name some of the most important transformations 
which the analytic theory and technique has undergone since 
its inception : The theory that the repression of an affectf ul 
idea into the unconscious was always accomplished Tjy a pain- 
ful, shocking experience. The shock or trauma theory was 
given up in favor of the conception that everything is of im- 
portance, the repression of ideas or phantasies. Where once 
the emphasis lay on the sexual trauma, the unconscious attach- 
ment to the parents was found to be the chief cause of the 
neuroses and of other conditions of dependence on the uncon- 
scious which influenced life. The sexual theory, previously the 
greatest stumbling block, underwent a radical change, since, 
not only the assertion of the causation of every neurosis in a 
sexual irritation in the ordinary sense, was abandoned, but also, 
the term sexuality received a great amplification, so that the 
poorly oriented reader scarcely understands any longer what 
the analyst means by the word and strikes wrong interpreta- 
tions. Where at that time, one considered the " abreaction, " 
the affectf ul "speaking out," as the healing agent, to-day we 
know that the transference of repressed wishes upon the 
analyst, forms, at least in severe cases, an indispensable con- 
dition of the cure. Where in the first period, the analytic 
attack was directed at the symptom, now, it is, in a certain 
sense, neglected, in order to turn all attention to the resistance 
against analyst and analysis. If at first, one aims only at the 
elimination of the internal conflict, he presently strives for 
independent adaptation to reality which comes from the over- 
coming of the internal two-sidedness, the turning of the 
patient's mental forces toward reality in accordance with the 
limitations of his personal peculiarities, and thus rounds out 
the analytic educational work by assisting conservatively self- 



CRITICISM OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 17 

education. Freud's fight against the scientifically and ethi- 
cally reprehensible ' ' wild psychoanalysis, ' ' * which expects 
cure from promiscuous sexual gratification without regard to 
scruples or love, has also raised the moral standing of the 
analysis. 

By all these modifications, which are due in only the slight- 
est measure to hostile criticism, almost entirely to psycho- 
analytic experience, the agreement with traditional views and 
especially with prevailing pedagogic ideas, has been essentially 
increased. In 1907, Isserlin explained: "If we emphasize 
the disposition somewhat more and deprive the trauma t of the 
decisive role which it would play in the causation of hysteria, 
the contending opinions would have come closely together. ' ' J 
We have seen that the original historical and psychological 
chasm which seemed unabridgable in the beginning, became 
narrowed also at other points. He who travels in an unknown 
land, at first notices the new and strange ; only gradually does 
the ' ' partout comme chez nous ' ' come into its rights. 

It would now be my task to describe how the critics met and 
accompanied the forward march of psychoanalysis. To my 
satisfaction, Bleuler has performed this necessary task in his 
discerning article, "Die Psychoanalyse Freuds." The battle 
raged in the most diverse affective states; from perfect neu- 
trality to furious insult, to boycott, indeed in one instance, 
even to denunciation before the public, in which scarcely an 
insinuation was omitted. As a strange cultural curiosity, one 
example may be mentioned without anger or intent to complain 
or apply for the martyr's crown. I can mention it with all 
the greater equanimity since it only reacted in favor of psycho- 
analysis. On the 15th of December, 1911, a neurologist in 
Zurich, specialist in electrotherapy, gave a public lecture in 

* Freud has from the beginning fought against this with all pos- 
sible vigor, for example, Kl. Schriften I, p. 109 (1895), pp. 137 flf., 199, 
230; II, pp. 14, 34. 

t M. Isserlin uber Jungs "Psychologie der Dementia praecox und 
die Anwendung Freudseher Forschungsmaximen in der Psychopathol- 
ogie." Zentralblatt fiir Nervenheilkunde u. Psychiatrie. 1907, p. 341. 

IJahrbuch II, pp. 623-730. 



18 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

which he pictured the objeetionableness and perversity of 
psychoanalysis. To this end, he drew a caricature which 
estranged even non-analysts. In order to show what kind of 
a business an analysis was, he picked out of Freud's "Frag- 
ment of Hysteria- Analysis, " that is, from an article intended 
only for the medical profession, one of the most delicate por- 
tions and described to the public, among which were many 
young boys and girls, how Freud discussed coitus in os. One 
can imagine the indignation of some, the joy of others. "What 
"vvould that speaker have said if one had pictured orally to a 
totally unprepared audience containing many very young in- 
dividuals, in a voice of moral indignation, the things w^hich that 
physician did to women and girls in his gynecological practice ? 
And in this, it would not be a question of perversions w'hich 
would be exposed to the phantasy of persons half-developed 
sexually. The refusal of a public debate by the analytic side 
led to a violent contest in the daily press, the end result of 
which was favorable to psychoanalysis in that the denounced 
literature was really devoured and the rush to the analysts in- 
creased wherever possible. 

Since Bleuler's article in defence of psychoanalysis, there 
has appeared only one important criticism of psychoanalysis : 
that of Arthur Kronfeld.* In its depth of thought, neutral 
reserve and repeatedly, indeed. In its honest admiration of 
Freud, it places all other discussions in the shade. Still, it is 
one with its predecessors in that it does not trouble itself in the 
least about the fundamental facts underlying psychoanalysis 
and avoids a priori empiric tests. The hypotheses and theories 
which Freud and his pupils have been compelled to believe from 
the phenomena observed, it puts under the head of "general 
psychological foundations" and thus stands the w4iole system 
on its head. How would a representation of the "Wundtian 
psychology work, which began, say with the principle of the 

* tJber die psyehologischen Theorien Freuds und verwandte An- 
schauungen," Archiv fiir die gesamte Psychologie, Vol. XXII (1911), 
pp. 130-248. While this book was in press, an excellent anticriticism 
against Kronfeld by Gaston Rosenstein appeared (Jahrbuch IV (1913), 
pp. 741-798). 



CRITICS 19 

aim of heterogony, and from there went backwards but was 
promptly silent every time Wundt disclosed a psychological 
fact determined empirically or proposed an experiment? 
The effect would plainly be similar to that in a cinematographic 
production if a dramatic scene was produced backwards by 
reversing the film. All causal connections would be destroyed, 
the whole would be incomprehensible. So proceeds Kronfeld 
with the analysis. Also the most everyday observations, for 
example, the transposition of an affect from one idea to an- 
other, he denies without going to the trouble of a test. Like all 
the hostile critics, Kronfeld seems to suffer from a strange 
fear of the facts, an " ontophobia. " Hence his industry, his 
learning and his sharpsightedness serve no purpose, the dis- 
cussion is hopeless though one would gladly meet so chivalrous 
an opponent. 

In the following statements, I shall give careful attention to 
the voices of the critics. Especially shall I consider the expres- 
sions of Alt, Aschaffenburg, O. Binswanger, Dubois, O. Fischer, 
F. W. Foerster, Friedlander, Heilbronner, Hoche, Janet, 
Isserlin, Klien, Kraepelin, Kronfeld, Lehmann, Mendel, Moll, 
Nacke, Oppenheim, Morton Prince, Siemerling, Skliar, Vogt, 
Wiegandt, Ziehen. I hope that no important argument of 
these opponents will escape me. The mockers among the op- 
ponents, I would ask to recall that old saying which Goethe 
gives in his "Faust": "We are accustomed to men jeering 
at that which they do not understand." 

The many other authors who, after proving for themselves, 
have broken lances in favor of the violently opposed theory, 
should be considered with the same precision. 

If the objection be raised that pedagogy ought to wait in 
silence until the physicians have solved the problem of psycho- 
analysis, two facts should be remembered: psychoanalysis is 
also important for normal individuals ; these are of no concern 
to the physician but of much concern to the educator. Fur- 
ther, this professional quarrel of the physicians may not be 
settled for decades ; meanwhile, however, the great new educa- 
tional problems are waiting and can no longer be put off. The 



20 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

scientifically trained pedagogue is just as good an expert in re- 
gard to the child's mind and the influencing of this function as 
the physician is for the sick child. Therefore, the teacher has 
a right to his own judgment and the stimulating encourage- 
ment of Freud as well as all other competent analysts can only 
strengthen him in his undertaking. 

From our historical sketch, we may now derive the definition : 
Psychoanalysis is a scientifically grounded method devoted to 
neurotic and mentally deranged persons, as well as to normal 
individuals, which seeks by the collection and interpretation of 
associations, with the avoidance of suggestion and hypnosis, 
to investigate and influence the instinctive forces and content 
of mental life lying below the threshold of consciousness. 

Whether or not the claims expressed in this definition are 
justified, we have now to determine. 



PAET I 
THE THEORY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 

CHAPTER II 

THE PSYCHOANALYTIC CONCEPTION OF AN 
UNCONSCIOUS 

We may now approach the question : what are we to think 
of subliminal mental processes? Are there in general sub- 
conscious psychic facts? Does an unconscious exist and is it 
scientifically conceivable? 

The prevailing psychology is not very kindly disposed to- 
ward the unconscious. True, its existence is seldom disputed. 
At the most, some representatives of the psychophysical mater- 
ialism, as for example, Ziehen, deny its existence. The psy- 
chiatrist named considers it in all seriousness as doubtful 
whether all the very complicated acts of hypnotised persons are 
not without parallel psychical processes and thereby readily 
leads us to the standpoint of old Cartesius who denied animals 
all mental experiences and considered them "creaking ma- 
chines. " * It cannot surprise us that this hypothesis of psy- 
choanalysis receives little favor and is explained without trial 
as "nonsense." f The other psychologists allow the validity 
of the unconscious. Indeed, Th. Lipps considers consciousness 
as such, as a passive, indifferent, in itself unimportant by- 
product of unconscious processes.! This appreciation, how- 

* Th. Ziehen, Leitfaden der physiolog. Psychologie (9th ed., Jena, 
1911, p. 259). 

f Ziehen, in a psychiatric meeting, flatly explained the Freudian 
theories as nonsense. The printed report to which we owe this com- 
munication, neglected to say whether Ziehen gave reasons for his opin- 
ion. 

I E. V. Hartmann, Die moderne Psychologie, Leipzig, 1901, p. 99. 

21 



22 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ever, is made of less value by the fact that Lipps does not know 
how to render the unconscious accessible to scientific observa- 
tion. We poor psychologists stand before the screen of un- 
consciousness without any hope of learning to know the picture- 
making machinery. Wundt uses us a little less roughly. He 
does not lift the subliminal, at least at first, to so high a rank 
before establishing our helplessness in comprehending it. 
"Our knowledge of the elements which have become uncon- 
scious has to do with nothing more than the possibility of 
memory. ' ' * 

Besides denying the existence of the unconscious or scien- 
tific recognition of it, psychology presents a considerable con- 
fusion of terms which we must consider in order not to in- 
crease it. 

In order to fix the concept of the unconscious, we proceed 
from that of the conscious and consciousness. But does not the 
same confusion prevail here ? 

The psychologists make it easy by explaining : one can only 
experience consciousness, not describe t or define it.J Against 
these opinions, Diirr maintains with justice that everything 
which science discusses must permit of a definition. H Wundt 
also saw himself forced later to the formulation of a definition. 

"Consciousness" is derived from "conscious" which word 
is used in reference to an object or to the objectivated subject, 
for example : the ' ' conscious ' ' matter ; " an idea becomes clearly 
conscious," "I am conscious," 

Both meanings occur in derivatives. Whoever is "con- 
scious" exercises a function, for example, a perception, an idea. 
In reference to the subject, the expression "conscious" always 
has an active meaning, to an object, a passive one. 

In the mental experience, as also in "knowing," we are ac- 
customed to distinguish subject, object and function. The 

* Wundt, Grundriss der Psychologic, p. 243. 
t Kirchner, Katechismus der Psychologie, Leipzig, 1883, p. 52. 
$ Wundt, Grundziige der phys. Psychologie. 2 (1881) IT, p. 195. 
II Diirr, Bewusstsein u. Unbewusstes in der "Tiefenpsychologie." 
Grundfragen der Psychologie u. Padagogik II, p. 37, 



PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 23 

psychologic reflection has elaborated the concept of conscious- 
ness in each of these three directions : 

1. As subject concept, it denotes the subject of the mental 
life.* As, for example, in the phrase, ''the man or the mind 
is consciousness. ' ' f This latter can therefore appear as acting. 
I mention the expression which has become old-style, because 
from it, in the expression "the unconscious" or "the un- 
consciousness," important counterparts have developed. 

2. As function concept, the term "consciousness" has very 
many meanings. Some of these meanings are: (a) as "con- 
nection of the mental images." According to Wundt, the 
meaning of the term would be that it expressed that general 
union of mental processes from which the individual images 
arise as narrower combinations. $ According to this definition 
there prevails in deep sleep or in a fainting spell, a state of 
unconsciousness, something which Wundt admits. Neverthe- 
less, an isolated sensation in sleep, for example thirst, or a 
simple dream-picture not connected with other psychic images, 
would be unconscious, while a dream scene would be conscious. 
This use of language will therefore not enlighten us. 

(b) Consciousness = "the totality of mental affairs belonging 
to an individual" (Witasek).|| 

(c) Consciousness = the inner outcropping of our sensations, 
ideas and emotions (Hoffding).lf 

(d) Consciousness = "All actual ideas" (Herbart) § or "the 
comprehension of objects" (Diirr).** 

(e) Consciousness = " the knowledge concerning the existence 
of all or a part of psychic affairs belonging to an individual ; in 
general, the knowledge about all the psychic and also physical 

*Same, p. 39. 

t Eehmke, Die Seele des Menschen, Leipzig, 1902, p. 43. 

t Wiindt, Grundriss, p. 238. 

II S. Witasek, Grundlinien der Psychologie, p. 60. 

HH. Hoffding, Psychologie, 2d ed., Leipzig, 1893, p. 95. 

§ Herbart, Psychologie als Wiss. Samtl. W. W. (Kehrbach). Vol. V 
(Langensalza 1890), p. 193. 

** Diirr, Be\vxi8stseiii u. UnbeAvusstes in der "Tiefenpsychologie." 
Grundfragen der Psychologie u. Padagogik II, p. 39. 



M THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

objects of which the individual thinks, of which he is accord- 
ingly conscious. ' ' * According to this condition, a knowledge 
about mental experiences or content would be necessary, a 
self -observation, an "inner sense." 
We add the description of Lotze : 

(f) Consciousness ^ Waking state.t Therewith all dreams 
iwould be unconscious, no matter how vividly I may experience 
them in myself nor how exactly I know them, nor how power- 
fully the selfconsciousness appeared in them. In favor of 
Lotze 's statement speaks the fact that one is not accustomed to 
attribute consciousness to persons overcome with sleep. 

In contradiction to this, one speaks of a lowering of conscious- 
ness, indeed of a suspension of consciousness, where a passion- 
ate excitement prevents our knowing what we are doing (Ul- 
rici).$ From this, follows, 

(g) Consciousness = Waking state in every relation free from 
extreme passion. 

(h) Consciousness = Waking state in normal mental activity. 
The last description leads us already to the third kind of elabo- 
ration of concept. 

3. As object concept, consciousness is differentiated from the 
process of knowing in the following expressions : 

(a) Consciousness = Content of knowledge or what is known. 
In this sense, we speak of a moral or religious consciousness, in 
which of course, we think not of a mere fund of knowledge but 
of an affectful experience and inner reaction. 

(b) Consciousness = Existence in the self perception or in the 
selfconsciousness. (Similarly Leibniz ).|| Against this limi- 
tation, Diirr justly remarks: "A child which sees houses, 
trees, animals and people, also has consciousness, although it 
cannot yet state psychological considerations concerning his 
perceptions and his other mental life." If 

*Witasek, p. 61. 

t H. Lotze, Grundziige der Psycliologie, Leipzig, 1894, p. 81. 

t H. Ulrici, Leib u. Seele. Leipzig, 1866, p. 277. 

II Wundt, Grundz. d. ph. Psycli. II, p. 348. 

i[Durr, p. 39. 



PSYCHOPHYSICAL PARALLELISM 25 

Thus the terminologies intersect one another in a confusing 
whirl. For etymological and practical reasons, I define 
consciousness as the existence of any kind of psychic phe- 
nomena. Thus I assign the dream and the delirium in 
which there is often so strong selfconseiousness and perception 
to the conscious activities as well as incoherent dream frag- 
ments. 

It is now not hard for us to mark off the different concepts 
of the unconscious against those of the conscious. 

For our purpose, we distinguish the philosophical definitions, 
thus the metaphysical of a Schelling, Schopenhauer, v. Hart- 
mann, the theological of an I. H. Fichte and Ulrici, the epis- 
temological construction of an Ed. v. Hartmann.* 

Here, we have only to deal with the unconscious as a psycho- 
logical concept, that is, such an one as results from a scientific 
elaboration of psychic phenomena. Its logical foundations are 
to be sought in psyehophysics and pure psychology. 

The psychophysical parallelism assumes that psychic pro- 
cesses correspond to excitations of the central nervous system. 
It denies the view "that the phenomena of consciousness may 
be derived from objective events or inversely, the objective 
results from states of consciousness. ' ' f Since among conscious 
phenomena, connections are missing, that principle can be 
carried through only under the presupposition of unconscious 
phenomena. This is especially strikingly the case in the recol- 
lection of memories. What has become of the conscious con- 
tent in the moment of forgetting ? Does it remain in existence 
as Herbart $ assumes or does it only leave behind a disposition 
to its recurrence? II In any case, however, there existed a 
complex of conditions beyond consciousness to recall a con- 
scious content. 

Or when a minimal stimulus in the central nervous system 
slowly increases, goes beyond the threshold of consciousness, 

* V. Hartmann, Die moderne Psychologie, p. 79. 

t G. F. Lipps, Grundriss der Psychophysik. Leipzig, 1909, p. 25 f. 

t Herbart, Vol. V, p. 338 ff. 

II Witasek, p. 54 f. 



26 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

grows strong and slowly diminislies, should then only the strong- 
est stimuli produce a psychic accompaniment ? 

Unconscious processes or those which have become uncon- 
scious accompany all perception and cognition, thought and 
volition. We do not know, for example, without psychological 
instruction why and in what way we have attained to an idea 
of space and location in space. "We think in concepts, the full 
extent of which is not present with us.* "We decide according 
to values, the foundation and coacting motives of which in 
great part escape us. The same is the case with instinct, time, 
many habits, actions which have become mechanical, mysterious 
feelings, dreams, etc.f 

Experimentally, an unconscious was first proven by the h}^)- 
notic investigation. Forel, for example, argued : * ' Often we 
are unable to recall a familiar name and just so much the less, 
the more we seek it. . . . In hypnosis, such interpolations 
and omissions are intentionally brought about by suggestion 
and the conscious part of the brain activity is constantly dis- 
placed by the temporary results of suggestion executed in un- 
conscious ways. " t By well conceived hypnotic procedure, the 
first psychologist outside the Freudian school to demonstrate 
unconscious functions in normal mental life was Narziss Ach 
and this in reaction experiments. He formulated the state- 
ment : * ' It is the rule that the effective goal-idea, upon the ap- 
pearance of the concrete idea of reference, does not appear in 
consciousness as such but nevertheless exercises a determining 
influence. . . . These peculiar activities proceeding from the 
goal-idea, related to the idea of reference, we designate as 
the determining tendencies." || Perhaps many will take ex- 

* Th. Lipps, Leitf. d. Psycholog. Leipzig, 1903, p. 40. 
tHoffding, pp. 94-112. 

I A. Forel, Der Hj'pnotismus, seine Bedeutung und seine Handhabung, 
Stuttgart, 1889, p. 55. 

II Narziss Ach, tJber die Willenstatigkeit imd das Denken. Gottingen, 
1905, p. 224 f . Ach lays great stress on his priority in the discovery 
of this "determination" (tJber den Willensakt und das Temperament, 
Leipzig, 1912, p. 286), but he does not perceive the immense import of 
his find. 



DEFINITIONS OF UNCONSCIOUS 21 

ception to calling an activity, a tendency. Then lie will prefer 
the definition: "These mental attitudes acting in the uncon- 
scious (= non-conscious), proceeding from the significance of 
the goal-ideas, directed toward the approaching idea of refer- 
ence, which actuate a spontaneous appearance of the determin- 
ing idea, we designate as determining tendencies. ' ' * Another 
pupil of Kiilpe, K. Koflfka, speaks of non-conscious reproduc- 
tion, and determining tendencies which have an influence on 
the course of ideas. t Concerning the latter, he remarks : ''On 
one side, determining tendencies may call forth conscious ideas, 
on the other side, thoughts liberated termining tendencies. If 
we think of the existence of a tendency before its realization : 
it is then a thought and this would have to occasion the like 
tendency to which it owed its origin. This becoming conscious 
of the tendency thus retroacts on its force, the tendency is there- 
by strengthened. ' ' | Max Offner, who collects in his study of 
the memory the results of the experimental psychology, arrives 
at the same conclusion : * * The assumption of these subliminal 
psychic processes, this unconscious but similar to conscious men- 
tal activity, is not to be avoided if we would not consider the 
conscious psychic events as a mere succession and juxtaposition 
of experiences but would bring them into an inner relationship 
as we inwardly associate the strokes of the clock with the hours 
by the knowledge that they are caused by the action of a 
mechanism built and acting according to fixed laws which is 
separated from our perception. Liebmann points out an ex- 
cellent analogy : ' ' There are dramas, ' ' he says, * ' which would 
remain absolutely unintelligible without what goes on behind 
the scenes. To these dramas, belongs the human mental life. 
What takes place on the stage of clear consciousness are only 
broken fragments and shreds of the personal mental life. It 
would be incomprehensible, indeed impossible, without what 

*P. 228. 

t K. Koffka, Zur Analyse der Vorstellungen und ihrer Gesetze, Leip- 
zig, 1912, p. 299 ff. Still nearer comes Freud: G. F. Lipps, Weltan- 
schauung u. Bildungsideal, Leipzig u. Berlin, 1911, page 155. 

$P. 316. 



28 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

transpires behind the curtain, that is, without unconscious pro- 
cesses. " " For considering these unconscious processes as some- 
thing not really unconscious but only as conscious in a limited 
degree, as carrying a 'differential' from consciousness, obser- 
vation affords us no justification. Only the unjustified pre- 
supposition that psychic and conscious are interchangeable 
terms is the occasion of that empirically unsubstantiated asser- 
tion. ' ' * Thus with Ach, the unconscious has obtained en- 
trance to the experimental psychology, and indeed not only as 
a general explanatory principle but as an empirically demons- 
trated fact. To this state of affairs, I expressly call the atten- 
tion of those who still continue to deny the unconscious as an 
unscientific concept. 

The concept of the unconscious limited to the causal rela- 
tionship of psychic phenomena now receives different interpre- 
tations. Many conceive of it as purely physiological (Jodl, 
Kiilpe). Proceeding from the supposition that sensations, 
ideas and emotions are conceivable only as having happened, 
thus as consciously experienced, they explain the condition of 
the unconsciousness of these phenomena as a contradiction and 
consider "conscious" and "psychic" simply as identical. So 
far then as they admit that this physiological unconscious in- 
fluences the conscious, they destroy the psychophysical parallel- 
ism and thereby saw off the bough on which they are sitting. 
They deliver themselves over to materialism which they con- 
sider as long abandoned and no longer tenable. Moreover, they 
do not explain the pretended difference between brain processes 
with and without consciousness and likewise leave the constant 
interaction between conscious and unconscious incomprehen- 
sible (Hoffding).t 

Again, many consider the unconscious as a " psychic disposi- 
tion of unknown kind. ' ' This is especially true of Wundt who 
considers it probable "that the psychological condition of the 
ideas in the unconscious stand in a similar relation to their con- 
scious purpose as the accompanying physiological processes or 

* M. Offner, Das Gedachtnis, 2d ed. Berlin, 1911, p. 135. 
t Hoffding, p. 107. 



THEODOR LIPPS 29 

conditions hold to one another. " * Hoffding speaks cautiously 
and conservatively of psychic analogues which constitute the 
unconscious, the nature of which he leaves entirely undeter- 
mined, and of which he demands only that they render possible 
both the origin of conscious phenomena and the relationship 
between conscious and unconscious activity. He leaves it un- 
decided whether one may speak of an unconscious mental life.f 
Theodor Lipps, who has broken so many lances in defence of the 
reality of the unconscious, says: ''Since unconscious sensa- 
tions and ideas are the same regarding real processes as the 
conscious, so they are subject to the same rule of law. They 
use a similar mode of action. On the other hand, we may only 
speak of unconscious sensations and ideas, where psychic ac- 
tivities, that is ultimately where purpose, coming and going of 
conscious experiences and the constitution of the same, force us 
to it. Or rather, the maintaining of unconscious sensations 
and ideas ultimately proves nothing else than that in the psy- 
chic life-connection, activities may be encountered and formu- 
lated which are similar to the activities of conscious sensations 
and ideas, without possessing the corresponding conscious con- 
tent. ' ' t The unconscious, in itself, is an entirely undefined af- 
fair ; by an overstepping of the threshold of consciousness and a 
lowering of the same, a process is not changed from an uncon- 
scious into a conscious one, as it were, inverted, but to it, the 
conscious content comes or from it, disappears (38). There 
are no unconscious or unnoticed contents. Thus, unconscious 
sensations and ideas are psychic realities without content (37). 
Who can conceive of such a thing ? Is not something psychic 
without content as inconceivable as color without extent ? 

Only a few philosophical authors of to-day speak of a psychic 
existence of the unconscious elements of the mental life which 
carry and determine all conscious processes. To this number, 
belong, besides Th. Lipps,. Friedrich Paulsen || and Max Offner. 

* Wundt, Phys. Psych. II, p. 204. 

fHoflfding, pp. 108, 110. 

t Lipps, Leitfaden, p. 39 f. 

II Paulsen, Einleitung in die Philosophie, Berlin, 1898, p. 126 ff. 



30 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

The former explains unconscious ideas as ''potential inner 
perceptions" or better, as not absolutely non-conscious but 
rather a less-conscious, a conscious perhaps lowered to com- 
plete imperceptibility.* In these statements, I miss definitive 
clearness. Less conscious and completely imperceptibly con- 
scious are as different concepts as conscious and unconscious, 
for to consciousness belongs, as one may also comprehend the 
term, perceptibility, existence. Less conscious is no longer 
purely potential. Thus this defender of unconscious psychic 
phenomena loses himself in unfathomable contradictions. Only 
Max Offner, so far as I know, speaks candidly of unconscious 
psychic phenomena. 

Thus, we arrive at this result: modern psychology cannot 
get along without an unconscious. It frequently attributes to 
this function the greatest significance for the conscious mental 
life but it can develop nothing systematic out of it. Beyond 
vague surmises which contribute nothing to the scientific ex- 
planation of psychic phenomena, it does not proceed. For 
psychology, the unconscious is an important but entirely un- 
known make-shift. If Wundt is right in his statement that 
we must give up forever the hope of learning the nature and 
thus also the laws of the unconscious, then psychology is in a 
bad way. Every knowledge-seeking investigator of mental 
phenomena must feel indebted to him who furnishes informa- 
tion concerning the subliminal processes. 

Is the psychoanalyst this man? In order to decide this 
question, let us proceed from the facts which led him to an 
assumption of an unconscious. That the analysis proceeds 
from facts and only then formulates laws, is in opposition to 
the views of those who assert that the analysts have derived 
laws arbitrarily and by the help of these laws, constructed 
facts which should then afterwards again prove the laws. 

Breuer and Freud came to their conception of unconscious 
ideas without any special kind of interpretation method. The 
former obtained from his famous patient while he kept before 

*P. 129. 



EXAMPLES OF UNCONSCIOUS PRODUCTION 31 

her a word whispered by her during an ' ' absence, ' ' * informa- 
tion which could be checked up accurately by external means. 
I, too, came, by a method which differs in nothing from the 
usual, customary scientific stipulation, to the assumption of un- 
conscious psychic phenomena by an examination which hardly 
deserves to be called an analysis, t 

A pupil of about sixteen years is one morning dumb, sees 
his surroundings in late forenoon still veiled in darkness, as 
if it were not yet day; as he rises, his legs refuse to work, 
while over his chest, a strange tension makes itself felt. Urged 
to confide in me the secret which is troubling him, he tells me 
the previous history of his illness up to the afternoon in which 
he was prevented by a feeling of shame from following his in- 
tention of confessing to his mother that he practiced onanism 
and had stolen from her. In this moment, appeared the pain- 
ful thoughts : "I can no longer speak as I would ! Now all 
is dark before me ! I hang only by a thread ! " $ This mono- 
logue the patient had completely forgotten during his hysterical 
disturbance. 

I state emphatically that this memory caused me great sur- 
prise and was in no way influenced by me as to content. Fol- 
lowing our analytic or qualitative criterion of causality, we are 
inclined to connect the hysterical symptoms of dumbness, dis- 
turbances of vision and gait, as well as the feeling of a closely 
defined zone of considerable extent on the chest, which is diffi- 
cult to understand psychologically, with the complaint ex- 
pressed the day before, which corresponds exactly in content. 

* Under "absence" is understood what is usually called unconscious- 
ness. 

t All the examples in this book come, when not otherwise specified, 
from my pedagogic and pastoral practice. All refer to persona with 
ethical or religious defects. All afford only fragments of analyses. It 
has not been possible to avoid giving the impression that the analytic 
work is simpler than is really the case. The overcoming of the resist- 
ance (see Chapter XIX), the avoidance of the so-called collateral paths, 
the interweaving with other symptoms, and the like, could not be 
demonstrated. 

t The details are in my article : "Psychanalyt. Seelsorge u. experi- 
mentelle Moralpadagogik." Prot. Monatshefte, 1909, pp. 3-42. 



S2 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

How the causal connection is to be conceived, is as little clear to 
us as that between the idea and the execution of a voluntary- 
movement of the arm. It would indeed be too remarkable if 
the otherwise absolutely enigmatical, affectful thoughts and 
the hysterical inhibitions should have happened accidentally at 
the same time. No one will believe this. 

In order to proceed with entire certainty, let us look around 
for similar cases. They are very easy to find for everyone who 
has opportunity and ability to observe. I do not see at all 
that the facts asserted by Freud cannot be tested, as Kronfeld 
asserts.* Analogous examples in great numbers meet every 
educator, pastor and physician who is willing to see, hence the 
second causal criterion, that of constant result, is also fulfilled. 
A few simple examples may follow : 

A girl of fifteen and one-half years suddenly exhibits during 
the analysis swollen lips. I seek to learn whether this phenom- 
enon has appeared before and discover that this actually oc- 
curred, one morning, five years before. [What happened at 
that time?] f ''A student had wanted to kiss me the day be- 
fore and I successfully defended myself against him. ' ' Since 
that time, the girl has hated the students until the pastoral 
treatment. Before the recrudescence of the hysterical phe- 
nomenon, the girl had once more refused the kisses of a young 
admirer. 

A girl of twelve and a half years frequently suffers from 
severe migraine and pelvic pains which confine her to her bed. 
She has the feeling that all her hairs are being pulled out. [ !] 
(After longer hesitation:) ''One day, my brother took the 
liberty when we were alone, to do improper things to me. As 
I struggled, he seized me violently by the hair." [The pains 
in the pelvis.] * ' It seems to me as if a cogwheel were revolving 
in me. My brother was in the habit of biting off his fingernails 

* P. 68 (see foot-note on page 18). 

t Throughout the whole book, square brackets contain my words 
addressed to the subject of analysis, round parentheses, my notes in- 
tended for the reader. An exclamation point represents the question: 
"What comes into your mind?" 



EXAMPLES OF UNCONSCIOUS PRODUCTION 33 

so that the edges were uneven." From that hour, the symp- 
toms ceased. Of a possible sexual cause for hysteria, the girl 
knew nothing. 

The same highly talented patient, whose hysteria, unfortu- 
nately, formed only the superstructure of an epilepsy, presented 
a very striking series of symptoms. Some months before I 
made her acquaintance, she was seized, after the midday meal, 
with a spell of clucking. In spite of the application of various 
household remedies, the tormenting trouble continued until af- 
ter the evening meal, when the little one went to the bookcase 
and read some passages from Scheff el 's ' * Ekkehard. ' ' Hence- 
forth, as often as the clucking became disturbing, nothing helped 
but the book named. Suddenly, this remarkable, hitherto 
prompt and unfailing remedy also lost its power, when my help 
was sought. 

It is perhaps somewhat presumptuous to present this example 
at this time, since it is complicated. But it shows certain 
peculiarities of the unconscious and the analytic method so 
prettily that I cannot bring myself to suppress it. According 
to my stenographic notes, the exploration ran the following 
course: [The clucking.] "With us at home, that is called 
'Schnackerl.' I call it foolishly 'Goschnill,' in which, I em- 
phasize the last syllable. This word seems to me very signifi- 
cant : ' Cochenille ' means the purple snail. My brother has a 
specimen in his collection. I have the strange impression that 
the 'Goschniir could hop. This seems to apply more to the 
word than to the object. I do not know at all why I find it so 
significant. [GoschnilL] Gosche, one calls the mouth vul- 
garly. ^Schniir might refer to schnellen (to jerk), oh yes! 
Clucking is a jerking with the mouth. The hopping ' Goschnill ' 
reminds me oflhopping crabs in the dune sand. I enjoy having 
one of these animals hop on me while I lay there dreaming. 
My brother gave me countless lectures on them. My brother, 
when he is eating or is alone with me, makes his hands jump 
constantly. (We shall discuss this obsessional neurotic indi- 
vidual on page 73). He jerks them into the air." 

It is plain that many hysterical symptoms, externally con- 



34 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

sidered, are simple imitations. The suspicion is at once 
awakened in everyone who knows this fact, that the mouth jerk- 
ing of the sister is connected with that of the brother, and at 
the same time that the purple snail and the hopping crabs also 
refer to him. The further investigation of the case affords us 
confirmation of this surmise. 

''Ekkehard" is our youth's favorite book. The girl could 
not read it to the end, however, and is anxious concerning the 
conclusion. Her favorite is Frau Hadwig. She loves an ' ' edu- 
cated, awkward, intolerant monk whom she can never marry 
and a handsome servant, Praxedis. " [Ekkehard.] ''My bro- 
ther is also educated, awkward and would gladly live as a her- 
mit in a little church in the wilderness." [Praxedis.] *'She 
reminds me of my English teacher whom I love very much. ' ' 

It was directly ascertained that shortly before the failure 
of the reading as a defence against the clucking, the news of 
the departure of the beloved lady had been announced. Now, 
is the conclusion too strained that our patient was freed from 
her automatism by the fact that without noticing it, she com- 
pared herself to the duchess, nevertheless, contrary to her ex- 
pectation, was left in the lurch by the story when the compari- 
son no longer tallied? We shall later meet numbers of such 
comparisons. He who finds incredible our supposition of un- 
conscious trains of thought as the connecting member between 
the facts of the clucking and that of the relation to the brother, 
as well as to the romantic ideas, can turn to the course of the 
hysterical process of our patient. 

About two weeks after the subsidence of the clucking, a tor- 
menting itching of the scalp broke out. A moderate rash as 
result of use of bromide did not explain the sensorial irritation. 
By questioning, I found, at the same time carefully avoiding 
all falsification from suggestion : the young girl scratched her- 
self till blood came ("as if I would scalp myself") and tore out 
whole wisps of hair. The itching, in spite of its painfulness, 
was a pleasure. In more strildng manner, during the intense 
feeling, she had to fix her eyes on her brother constantly. Pre- 
viously, she had noticed that the latter, who had formerly also 



EXAMPLES OF UNCONSCIOUS PRODUCTION S5 

had a nervous skin eruption, had a dirty scalp.* "Itching" 
can signify a motor function and is then synonymous with jerk- 
ing and also a sensory affair. This symptom also disappeared 
immediately after the analysis. 

We shall frequently see how, in place of a prohibited neurotic 
manifestation, another makes its appearance. As our patient 
had previously imitated the brother 's itching by a motor symp- 
tom, the clucking, so now she does it by a sensory one. There- 
fore she looked at him constantly while she was having her 
hysterical symptoms. It becomes quite evident here that below 
the threshold of consciousness, an elaboration of the symptom, 
in the sense of choice and automatic realization of a new sym- 
bol, takes place. Some further compensations appeared after 
the quickly attained cure. For the sake of brevity, we must 
pass over them. 

In order to accustom the reader to the thought that we are 
really dealing with laws derived from facts, I will give a few 
apt examples out of many dozens of such. 

A lady of twenty-five years has suffered for nine years from 
severe migraine in the temples. [Do you recall the first attack 
of the trouble?] "No." [Press on the temples and think of 
the first attack.] " It was in the pension. I had just received 
a letter. From my father. He is a drunkard. On his de- 
parture, he had said : 'Do not be surprised if you receive a letter 
telling you that I have shot myself.' As a child, I had often 
received a blow there, especially during quarrels. The mi- 
graine became far worse after I had seen in a print the corpse 
of a man who had shot himself in the temples. ' ' 

These communications were interrupted by digressive (or 
apparently digressive) remarks. They sufficed to banish the 
suffering from those places. The same hysterical patient, one 
day during the course of the analysis, created a crown of 
painful points of pressure on her head. By the observation of 
this phenomena, she awoke the memory that, as a girl of sixteen, 
after her pastor had described the innocent One, persecuted 

* Jung calls my attention to the fact that Goethe's sister also had an 
eczema on neck and breast when she would appear decollete, 



36 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

and crowned with thorns, she plaited a crown out of thorn 
branches and placed it on her head. At present, she feels her- 
self likewise innocent but persecuted. May we venture the 
surmise that she consoles herself by identification with the 
Savior ? At all events, we will not dispute an unconscious con- 
nection after the analogy of conscious trains of thought. The 
crown of thorns disappeared at once after the autoanalysis. 

He who hesitates to give his assent or thinks to escape with 
mere psychic dispositions should give his attention to the fol- 
lowing example: A boy of sixteen years suffers from many 
points of pressure on his head which go back to falls, beatings, 
etc. The father, a teacher, was in the habit of boxing his son on 
the ear during piano instruction, until the painful places called 
a halt to the practice. Immediately after the discovery of 
these facts, the trouble disappeared but after a little while, re- 
appeared as an hysterical crown of thorns. This time also, the 
apperception of the symptom led to the Savior, crowned with 
thorns, whose passion the patient had viewed with pity in the 
primary school. This identification, too, would console for 
undeserved persecutions. In the next consultation, the boy 
surprised me with a line of pressure which, when more closely 
examined, brought forth the associated memory : ' ' Often, my 
parents said to me: 'You are an odd saint!' The unmasked 
pseudo-messiah thus satisfied himself with a somewhat more 
modest role. Who would now assume that the brain centers 
iwhich allowed the imaginary thorns to be felt, have, without 
psychic intervention, yielded their function to quite different 
ones which have brought forth the feeling of an aureole? 

An unintelligent person of forty-eight years, whose super- 
stition long bothered me, asked me on occasion of a visit : " Do 
you not think. Pastor, that people who were born on special 
days can see wonderful things which are hidden from ordinary 
people? [Did you come into the world on a special day?] 
''Certainly, on the birthday of the Confederation." [What 
secret thing have you seen?] "Thirty years ago, one evening 
at nine o 'clock, on the steps, I saw a white figure with piercing 



EXAMPLES OF UNCONSCIOUS PRODUCTION 37 

black eyes, long black hair and long fingers. It looked at me 
without moving. I was at first rigid from fright but then ran 
into the room and shouted that someone was standing out there. 
My parents, however, saw no one. Some days later, the angel 
appeared to me in my sleeping room." [Good ! Put yourself 
back with strained attention to the moment of the vision. Con- 
sider the piercing black eyes. What comes into your mind?] 
"Our neighbor had such eyes." [The hair of the angel.] 
"This too corresponded with that of the neighbor." [The 
angel had long fingers which is not usually related of the mes- 
sengers of God.] "Marvelous! The neighbor also had long 
fingers." (Later addition: "On that afternoon, a sales- 
iwoman had said to me: 'Your neighbor will find no rest in 
the grave for she has obtained her house through legacy-hunt- 
ing.' " Hence the long fingers.) " She liked to scare children. 
"We couldn't endure her!" (By chance, I had just analyzed 
two dreams of the funerals of living people and had found con- 
firmation of Freud's assertion (Traumdeutung, 3rd ed. p. 179) 
that behind these dreams, lurks the repressed wish for the death 
of the person in question. Therefore, I continued:) [The 
neighbor was hostile to you but you wished her not simply 
death but made her in your vision into an angel of God. What 
better could you wish for a person if you would put him aside ?] 
"I see that you are right; now I have rejoiced over my angel 
for some thirty years. ' ' 

(One recalls that professional murderers of children were 
called ' ' angel-makers, ' ' in which title, likewise, the base motive 
is hidden by one outwardly sublime.) 

I will not suppose that the reader will believe my interpre- 
tation. Provisionally, we have only to deal with the question 
whether between the neighbor and the angel, a causal connection 
existed and whether the change seen in the hallucination may 
be traced back to unconscious mental work. Only from a series 
of observations of such connections will we look for the laws ac- 
cording to which the subliminal mental activity occurs. 

From the large number of religious hallucinations which I 



38 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

have explored, I add a further example^* A youth of seventeen 
and one-half years had the following experience: "Six and 
one-half years ago, I was approaching my home after coming 
from a neighboring village. Suddenly, I was attracted to look 
at a mighty oak. There appeared from behind the tree and 
coming toward me, a great black figure as if it had sprung out of 
the ground. It rubbed its hands toward me as if it would wash 
them. At the same time, there was a sound like thunder. For 
some minutes, I was as if paralyzed. I would gladly have run 
away but could not. Finally, I ran home in great excitement. ' ' 
[Describe the figure accurately and tell what comes into your 
mind.] * ' The figure had black curly hair. Otherwise nothing. 
Yes ! It was naked. A terrible enemy w^hom I had, also had 
such hair. He spread the rumor concerning me that a certain 
girl had been impregnated by me. Strangely enough, this girl 
came from the village which I had left shortly before the vision. 
The physician examined the girl and declared her pure. My 
father complained for me of injury to my honor. Before the 
justice of the peace, I said to my calumniator: 'You are a 
regular devil ! ' I received an indemnity of thirty francs which 
I gave to the poor. The bad fellow also had black curly hair 
just like the devil. Otherwise, I know nothing." [The devil 
was naked.] ''Because it was an impure thing. Because he 
stood there in his nakedness." [Rubbing the hands.] "Per- 
haps in rage. When my enemy was in a rage, he rubbed his 
hands. ' ' 

[That you did not recognize your enemy in the devil for 
seven years shows that not all the traits correspond. Name the 
most important difference.] "The nose. My enemy's was 
considerably larger." [The nose of the devil.] (Simon 
laughs.) " It is very interesting ! That girl had a strikingly 
small nose like the devil in my apparition." 

Since I already knew the laws of unconscious processes to be 
considered in this connection, I drew a conclusion which I do 
not expect the reader to accept unconditionally as yet : ' ' The 

* Pfister, Die psycliolog. Entriitselung der rel. Glossolalie u. aiitom. 
Kryptographie, Leipzig und Vienna, 1912, p. 15 f. 



EXAMPLES OF UNCONSCIOUS PRODUCTION 39 

hallucination probably expressed tke wish that the hated enemy 
might be changed into the devil, standing there in his naked- 
ness in helpless rage (like Lady Macbeth after the king's mur- 
der in Shakespeare's drama) and seeking to cleanse his hands 
by washing and bearing, in addition, the visible sign of his cal- 
umniation, the nose of the injured girl," I am going still a 
little deeper into the interpretation. Nevertheless, at the pres- 
ent status of our investigation, I do not once expect the reader 
to accept even the repeated interpretation. I hope only to show 
here that a connection exists between the devil and the enemy 
as well as the girl, perhaps even a purposeful connection, con- 
cerning the formation of which, every psychologist is curi- 
ous. 

In order to increase the expectation somewhat more, I add 
a third hallucination which, like the foregoing, may also show 
by the way, how the psychoanalytic method leads the apper- 
ception of the object and the entirely uncritical association to 
facts which bring nearer to our understanding the relations of 
origin of the product of unconscious activity. A physician of 
forty-seven years told me that twenty-five years before, during 
a walk in the forest, he suddenly saw most distinctly in front 
of him at some distance, the plaster bust of Sehleiermacher. 
He went up to it. Just as he was about to grasp it, it disap- 
peared. I went from there gladdened in spirit. [ !] ''My 
father, a pastor, possessed such a bust. " [ !] ' ' Once the maid 
broke the glass bell mounted over it. I was still a child. My 
father made an awful fuss about it. The affair did not con- 
cern me. I thought the insignificant damage was not worth so 
much excitement on father's side. I always regarded the bust 
with awful fear. That the figure stood there, I took as a sign 
that it was well with father." [In what state of mind were 
you before the vision?] "I was much troubled because an im- 
portant letter from home did not come in spite of pressing re- 
quests. My brother had developed delusions of grandeur, 
bought horses and was always telegraphing for money. In or- 
der not to spoil his career, father was unwilling to have him 
committed to an asylum. As I had received no recent infor- 



40 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

mation, I thought father might again be beside himself with 
excitement. ' ' 

The reader may now test for himself whether my questions, 
which certainly did not suggest their own answers, afford ma- 
terial which may lead us to an understanding of the vision. 
Has the memory of Schleiermacher in the critical moment a 
real meaning? I think so. The identification of the two 
worthy theologians, the father and Schleiermacher, rendered 
it possible that the perception of the latter might also afford 
assurance of the safety of the former. The memory of the 
blind rage on account of the onetime endangering of the statue 
brought the consolation that now too the father's excitement 
may be greatly exaggerated. For the rest, the person who 
had the hallucination is innocent of the affair and only indirect- 
ly concerned.* Thus, we now understand also the cheerful 
mood which would otherwise be difficult to comprehend. A 
candidate in medicine, just before the state examination, must 
have known that an hallucination is to be considered as patho- 
logical. 

I leave to the reader to seek a simpler interpretation of the 
vision. But he cannot well dispute the following: Between 
the vision and the facts gained by psychoanalysis, just as in the 
examples previously mentioned, there must exist a connection. 
He who does not deny every causal relation on the ground of a 
prejudice similar to that which caused Descartes to consider all 
animals as creaking machines, must assume a purposeful work 
below the threshold of consciousness similar to that of conscious 
deliberation. In the three last described analysis, the apper- 
ception of the hallucination (angel, devil, Schleiermacher) led 
us to facts which have a very intimate relation to a present, 
easily ascertained wish. Thus, the hallucination expresses a 
really purposeful thought, which, because of grounds provi- 
sionally withheld from our understanding, forms below the 

* If the reader does my book the lionor of a second reading, he will 
find in this parallel the allaj-ing of the evil wish which must have been 
repressed and thereby occasioned the hallucination. 



EXAMPLES OF UNCONSCIOUS PRODUCTION 41 

threshold of consciousness and manifests itself psychically or 
physically in disguised form. 

That, even in old age, such processes occur, a lady of sixty- 
nine years shows. One day there occurred an automatic twitch- 
ing of the upper lip toward the left ear, accompanied by a 
ringing and buzzing which seemed to come from a mosquito. 
[Mosquito.] "The mosquito is a sucker of blood. My son 
wrote me before the outbreak of twitching and buzzing that his 
lady friend, for whom he had made pecuniary sacrifices, and 
who had promised to marry him, has turned him down. I find 
this customary with her. She too was a blood-sucker." 

[The twitching.] "I find nothing." I knew that the son 
mentioned had a scar on the same place. As he returned from 
the mensur (duel) , his mother, in her first awful fright, thought 
someone had tried to murder him. The ringing in the ear re- 
minded her also of that of a rapier. The lady probably con- 
nected the present (financial) loss of blood with that which had 
once actually occurred and which, at that time, had such a 
harmless outcome. Of this logical operation also, there was not 
the slightest trace in consciousness. 

Finally, I mention an observation which shows us the un- 
conscious at work in a normal individual. A gentleman of 
thirty-six years told me that for some days he had been tor- 
mented by a word, the meaning of which was entirely unknown 
to him. He only knev/ dimly that while in the preparatory 
school, some twenty-two years before, he might possibly have 
heard it in Greek history but could not remember to have heard 
it again since. The word was called "Pentakosiomedimne." 
He asked me to give him the meaning of it or help him to seek 
it. Fortunately, my memory also failed so that I turned to 
analysis and began: [Think of the word intently and tell me 
what comes into your mind.] After a long pause, I received 
the following: "The word 'Medimne' reminds me of 'Medu- 
sa.' " [Keep it sharply in view.] "Now I see clearly the dis- 
torted face of a near relative whom, on account of incurable 
insanity, I was compelled to take to a sanitarium some days ago. 



42 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

I have to put up for the cost of his care which goes hard with 
me." 

Here the conversation was interrupted by lack of time. The 
next time I directed his attention to the beginning of the word. 
After some hesitation, the association came out : "Pente must 
mean five. I think of a chemical agent which is composed of 
five ingredients. Ah so ! On the morning when the obsessing 
word appeared for the first time, I was lying down with a pain 
in my stomach and took a narcotic. I thought of my relative. 
Then the thought came to me : If one could only give the poor 
paralytic a powerful narcotic too, and indeed so much that — ." 
Later, it showed further that under the suffering of the patient, 
five persons nearly related to the one being analyzed, were 
strongly concerned. 

Is it so entirely unreasonable if we now seek a purposeful 
connection between the associations and the facts indicated by 
them with the obsessing word ? A priori, an inner relation be- 
tween obsession and worry is probable. Further, the associa- 
tions point to it. If, however, there is a psychic connection, 
then nothing prevents asking for the meaning of an obsessional 
idea. It is quite easily found, for "Pentakosiomedimne" sig- 
nifies, as the person under analysis certainly knew in his time, 
the members of the highest class of citizens under Solon. Our 
subject has suffered long from pecuniary embarrassment since 
he has previously had to care for many relatives. For some 
time, he has experienced an essential bettering of his income. 
The obsessional idea acquired, as in so many of the foregoing 
cases, the good meaning of a consolation : The economic care 
occasioned by the mental disease is offset by the financial im- 
provement. 

If we do not dogmatically deny an unconscious mental life, 
we observe in this example various subliminal performances: 
A group of ideas, which confers the full logical meaning on the 
technical expression ("Pentakosiomedimne") belonging to it, 
has disappeared from memory and yet, the expression suits the 
situation surpassingly well. Likewise, in the final result, dif- 
ferent ideas which have become acute, are intelligently joined 



ASSUMPTION OF AN UNCONSCIOUS 43 

together, ("medimne" — medusa, distorted face, pental — sooth- 
ing, sleeping-potion, pente — five persons concerned). 

I have put forward for the reader 's consideration a collection 
of cases intentionally left unarranged. It would be as easy as 
it would be aimless and tiring to fill a portly volume with simi- 
lar observations, for similar facts and processes come to the 
view of the analyst in great numbers, both in his practice and 
in his daily life. Generally, one will not and cannot see them. 
It is now our task to draw conclusions necessarily resulting 
from our material. 

The unconscious is not easier and also not harder to demon- 
strate than the conscious of another person. As Cartesius, on 
the ground of his conception of thinking, denied animals all 
psychic impulses, so one can consider all other people as mere 
creaking machines without the possibility of being contra- 
dicted. The immanent philosophy which allows the whole 
world to exist only in my idea, has produced something quite 
different. Animal psychology, under the circumstances, could 
never have convinced a Cartesius redivivus if it had spent fifty 
years on this one task. Only a conclusion from analogy assures 
us of the existence of an animal mind and of mental life in other 
persons, and conclusions from analogy can always be disputed. 
But what reasonable man would go so far in scepticism ? He 
who would deny that psychic motives lie at the bottom of in- 
dividual acts of other people, would be ready for the madhouse. 

In assuming an unconscious mental life in the cases observed, 
we do nothing different than when we presuppose a conscious- 
ness outside ourselves in this or that psychical or physical per- 
formance. We hold ourselves to the criteria of relationship of 
content and constant results. "We saw automatic dumbness, 
visual disturbance and feeling of tension with paralysis, in 
temporal conjunction with the affectf ul complaint, forgotten at 
that time : "I cannot speak and see, I hang only by a thread. ' ' 
In numerous cases, we see physical and psychical phenomena, 
which would otherwise remain entirely unexplained, arranged 
as to causality or brought nearer to our scientific understanding 
when we fall back on the hypothesis of a subliminal mental life. 



M THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Th.us it is incorrect when Kronfeld asserts that psychoanalysis 
is not founded on facts but constructs such with the help of a 
theory.* 

We saw the unconscious, never as a mere disposition, but 
always as a molding, creative force. Even where there seems 
to be a mere reproduction in an automatism, upon closer con- 
sideration, a more complicated thought process is unmistak- 
able, as for example in the following case : A youth of seven- 
teen years has felt for some days, a strange sensation in his left 
arm. The occasion and meaning of the symptom are entirely 
inexplicable to him. When his attention is concentrated upon 
the symptom, he recalls that as a child, he was about to be 
vaccinated but struggled so violently that the hated procedure 
had to be given up. At the present also, there is something 
unpleasant in view: the father wishes to transfer his son to 
another institute which is displeasing to the son. Thus, the 
hysterical innervation expresses the wish that this time too, 
the father's plan may be frustrated by obstinacy. This logi- 
cal connection is entirely lacking in consciousness. Not once 
does the scene with the physician become conscious without 
analytic assistance. If the scheme of refractory conduct had 
been clearly conceived, then that picture from youth could 
quite well appear. Now, however, at the moment of the ap- 
pearance of the symptom, an unconscious thought presents a 
merely suggestive expression which selects from an experience 
an especially characteristic agency and brings it to automatic 
expression. 

We recognize many more complicated unconscious perform- 
ances in the more complicated phenomena, for example, in the 
clucking and itching, in the crown of thorns and the halo, in 
the long fingered and short nosed angel, the devil with the 
features of two familiar persons, etc. Later, we shall meet 
very many more elaborate productions of subliminal activity, 
even to the most sublime structures of art and religion. Since 
below the threshold of consciousness, the most imposing trans- 

* Kronfeld, tJber d, psych. Anschauungen Freuds, p. 64. 



UNCONSCIOUS PRODUCTIVITY 45 

formations and new creations take place systematically, it is 
incorrect to call the unconscious a mere "disposition" or to 
consider it as a purely physical affair. 

This unconscious productivity, in which, emotion, will and 
intellect have a share, thus unconscious sensations, ideas, 
emotions and inclinations, is the first fact which we emphasize. 
The other fact is : It has been possible for us with the help of 
our attitude toward the manifestations of the unconscious and 
the collection of the ideas associated with these, to gain a mean- 
ing for the phenomena to be explained, often with surprisingly 
little trouble. Often, the associations gained from the apper- 
ception, at first run in all directions, somewhat like the slap- 
dash lines of a rapidly sketching cartoonist. Suddenly, how- 
ever, one perceives in the apparently meaningless and hap- 
hazard mass of ideas, a purposeful whole which agrees very 
well with the situation of the subject. 

Here, a word may be interpolated in reply to the objection 
that the analyst allows himself to be deceived by the subject 
of the analysis or is selfdeceived by giving suggestion and 
thereby causing the results. One prevents suggestion so far 
as it may falsify the answers by the tone and manner and the 
same stereotyped question: "What comes into your mind?" 
The subject of the analysis will certainly often seek to lie. 
Still he can only lie about what comes into his mind and that 
is the important material. He cannot invent the structure of 
a neurosis. External substantiation of the replies is often pos- 
sible. Especially in dreams and the reaction experiment, the 
liar is often drolly unmasked, since he betrays himself without 
noticing it. Finally, the patient perceives that he injures 
only himself and not the analyst by untruthfulness. In a case 
published from the semianalytic side, the physician may be 
duped by an invented tale. The difficult patient who had been 
nourished for years by the probe, experienced a relapse and 
now confessed repentantly to the physician who applied the 
real analysis, her deceit, whereupon the treatment could be con- 
tinued and permanent recovery obtained. 

Without the psychoanalytic method, we would absolutely 



46 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

never have attained an insiglit into the structure and cause of 
the symptoms of the majority of our simplest cases, concerning 
some of which very sharp-sighted people had racked their 
brains. 

I do not say that psychoanalysis is the only method by which 
the unconscious may be ascertained. One can also afford the 
proof synthetically by giving an order in hypnosis and com- 
manding at the same time to forget the occasion of the order. 
For example, a teacher may be commanded to put a little paper 
hat on the top of the stove in his room the next day, never- 
theless, to forget that this was expected of him. The man will 
do it after he has invented some kind of a plausible motive, 
perhaps a very clever one, perhaps the desirability of greater 
practice in triangulation. The real motive remains uncon- 
scious.* 

We are now in a position to characterize descriptively the 
unconscious with which psychoanalysis has to deal. ' ' Uncon- 
scious," "subconscious" or "subliminal," we call the intellect- 
ual processes taking place outside of consciousness, which 
processes, we infer according to the principles of causal con- 
nection derived from physical and psychical phenomena. 
These subconscious mental phenomena, we conceive to be ex- 
actly analogous to the conscious, only the characteristic of 
being known is lacking to them. The hypothesis of localiza- 
tion in certain nerve centers is denied to no one, but because 
of the intellectual importance of the subliminal mental prod- 
ucts and of the material utilized, these phenomena cannot be 
made subordinate, as Janet and Grasset believe. t 

According to Freud, the distinction between conscious and 
unconscious ideas is not merely a dynamic one, somewhat of 
the kind that the unconscious idea lacks the power to become 
conscious as in the case of a weak sensory stimulus. An un- 
conscious idea, to which an instinct is attached, can rule the 

* Beautiful examples are given by Narziss Aeh, Uber die Willens- 
tatigkeit u. d. Denken, Gottingen, 1902, p. 188 ff. 

t J. Grasset, Le spiritisme devant la science, Paris, 1904, pp. 99, 
110 ff. 



FORECONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS 47 

whole life, devastate it and cripple it in its development.* 
Hence, Freud distinguishes f oreconseious ideas which lack only 
the conscious investment of energy, from the real unconscious, 
but attributes to this distinction more practical than theoretical 
value. t Both kinds, the f oreconseious and the unconscious, 
come under the term subliminal. I see no occasion to fix 
sharply the distinction between the two, as something like 
Kant's distinction between the world of phenomena and the 
thing in itself. 

As the mental life is divested by many psychologists of its 
own causality and traced back to purely physical causality 
without the psychological investigation falling along with it, 
so also can the unconscious be reduced to physiological proc- 
esses without psychoanalysis coming to naught thereby. Some 
analysts incline to this hypothesis of psychophysical material- 
ism.| Why I do not do this, I have previously explained. 
But the representatives of the purely physiological unconscious 
must take to psychological formulations, for the knowledge of 
the brain processes affirmed also by the adherents of the 
psychological unconscious is entirely denied to us. 

Similarly to the expression, "consciousness," that of the 
unconscious has different meanings. Now, it denotes the 
totality of what is non-conscious, now, the unconscious mental 
life including its own activity. In this significance, Freud 
denotes it by the abbreviation "Ubw." (Unc.).|| 

9 

* Freud, A note on the Unconscious in Psycho- Analysis. Pro- 
ceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Part LXVI, Vol. XXVI 
(1912), p. 314. 

fP. 316. 

t Freud also formerly expressed himself in this sense, for example, 
Kleine Schriften, I, p. 52. 

II Traumdeutung, p. 318. 



SECTION I 
EEPRESSION AND FIXATION 

CHAPTER III 

THE UNCONSCIOUS AS PRODUCT OF REPRESSION 
AND AS ENTITY FREE FROM REPRESSION 

Although we have attained a clear definition of our object 
and a general description of the method of investigation to be 
employed and elaborated, there still floats before us a rather 
nebulous conception of our field of work. In order to lift the 
veil, we will attempt a genetic consideration of the uncon- 
scious. 

Janet thought he could explain the phenomena of hysteria 
as degenerative phenomena. Because of a degeneration of the 
nervous system, there appeared a mental splitting of the per- 
sonality so that the mental processes which belonged together 
could no longer be synthetized to a unity, but remained dis- 
sociated.* Degenerative? There, we have again a horrible 
word, under which, anything can be comprehended because 
no one sees anything clearly intelligible and obvious in it, or 
if he does, someone else comes along and explains that this is 
not degenerative, t Of a degeneration of the nerves as a 
foundation for dissociation, we know nothing; further, the 
astounding performances of many hysterical individuals in 
perception, memory, phantasy and other functions, do not 
speak for degeneration. 

Instead of trusting ourselves to the cheap vessel of the 

* Freud, uber Psychoanalyse, p. 16 f. 

1 1 have discussed the conclusions of Bar, Kurella, Niieke, Bleuler and 
Lombroso in my book, "Die Willensfreiheit" (p. 106 f.). 

48 



PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS 49 

physiological hypothesis, we will seek to attain our goal by 
psychological analysis. 

First, we must get clear some fundamental concepts of 
psychology. In the following pages, there will be much men- 
tion of sensations, perceptions and ideas, of emotions, instincts, 
acts of the will and similar mental phenomena; the scientific 
determination of these terms is a bone of contention among the 
various psychological schools and parties. It is right to ask 
ourselves in what seiise we understand these words. 

For our immediate experience, there are only psychic 
events, in which we distinguish an intellectual and an emotional 
side,* We distinguish what is related to objects outside of 
consciousness, all sensations, ideas and thoughts, as intellectual 
content, from that which depends on the behavior of the sub- 
ject, thus from emotions and inclinations. Pure sensations, 
ideas and thoughts are as scarce in conscious mental life as 
pure emotional reactions, volitional reactions and actions. 
The expression, ' ' emotionally toned idea, " if it did not suggest 
strong emotional emphasis, would be a pleonasm. 

Psychology, like psychoanalysis, has the greatest interest 
in the question whether both sides of the mental phenomenon 
may be traced back to one fundamental form. One group of 
authors believe they can separate the emotional into intellectual 
elements. Herbart would explain all mental processes as 
statics and mechanics of ideas, Spencer and Steinthal consider 
the will as a mere idea, Miinsterberg, Lehmann and Wahle 
conceive it to be a complex of ideas and sensation, f Ziehen 
and Ebbinghaus lay special stress on the idea of activity, with- 
out which idea, according to their conclusions, attention can- 
not once appear. $ Of the intellectualistie theories, I can illus- 
trate only one, at the same time, however, indicating the errors 
of its sisters, namely, that of Meumann.|| This theory con- 

*Wundt, Grundziige der phys. Psych., 6th ed. Vol. I, 1908, p. 404. 

t 0. Kiilpe, Die Lehre vom Willen in der neueren Psychologic, Leip- 
zig, 1888. 

t Ziehen, Leitfaden der physiol. Psychologie, p. 173. Ebbinghaus, 
Abriss d. Psychologie (Diirr), Leipzig, 1910, p. 81. 

II E. Meumann, Intelligenz und Wille, Leipzig, 1908, p. 192. 



50 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

siders as indispensable attributes of every voluntary act: (1) 
the goal idea; (2) the judgmeni; corresponding to it; (3) the 
bringing about of the action to be performed by these two ele- 
ments and at the same time the causative action itself and our 
consciousness of this action ( 188 ) . According to IMeumann, the 
consciousness of activity in the volition is "nothing else than 
a consciousness of this personal preparation for the act" 
(188f.). "In a volitional act, we notice how nothing else ap- 
pears in our consciousness except causative energy, except the 
goal fixed by us, the approved motive corresponding to the aim 
and our appropriate act. In general, where this selection 
brought about by us among psychic processes, appears,, we 
know ourselves to be voluntarily active. The nucleus of the 
will process is accordingly this selection phenomenon and its 
causation by suitable goal ideas which we ourselves have fixed 
and to which we have imparted an inner acquiescence. It 
is not every selection among our ideas but this active selection 
which constitutes the will" (191). In this presentation, an 
emotion does not come into consideration. "It contradicts the 
nature of emotions, which are always objects of pleasure and 
displeasure, to impose on them thoughts of an activity" (191). 
I do not see that Meumann could explain the emotional 
element as purely intellectual. It lies hidden already in the 
goal idea, as well as in the judgment corresponding to it and in 
the causation of the act to be performed. If Meumann had 
analyzed theee phenomena, it would have been plain to him. 
The same applies to the amplifying and explanatory formula- 
tions of the same psychologist : In consciousness of ' ' personal 
causation of the action" lies the knowledge of the activity re- 
posing in the will. Further, the selection is derived from the 
tendency inferred in the goal idea. Meumann did not 
analyze the volitional process itself as it is experienced but 
as it is looked at from without. Hence, he made a fatal mis- 
take right at the decisive point : out of the experienced activity, 
this center of the volitional act, he makes a mere knowing of 
the personal activity. The latter, he changed from a con- 
stituent factor of the volitional performance into a mere object 



PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTION 51 

of knowledge, the content of wliich, the personal, that is, mental 
activity, is not raised beyond all doubt. Thus, Meumann can 
assert the primacy of the intellect, cast doubt on the spontaneity 
of the subject in a volitional experience, deny psychic causality 
and allow credence only to the physical in the sense of psycho- 
physical materialism. 

Concerning the psychology of emotion, not much more need 
be said. One widespread theory attempts to reduce the 
emotions like the will to sensations and indeed to sensations in 
organs. Lange supports the standpoint that emotion may be 
the sensory reaction to vasomotor stimuli (excitation of the 
arteries), while James lays more stress on sensations associated 
with physical movements of expression.* In the sense of 
Lange, we would say : ' ' We feel because our vessels expand ' ' ; 
James says outright: *'"We are sad because we weep and 
angry because we tremble. ' ' Meumann considers the emotions 
as blendings of organic sensations. t 

The expression, "feeling," is used in various senses. Its 
application to tactile sensations is to be rejected for only con- 
fusion results from this speech usage. On the other hand, 
for scientific language, a terminology is justified which desig- 
nates as feelings, states of consciousness which, although com- 
posite and including intellectual factors, nevertheless, are 
essentially determined in their characteristics by the pre- 
dominance of the joyous or painful, the pleasant or unpleasant, 
of pleasure or pain.| Thus, one may speak of a feeling of 
pity, love or hate. Only, one must make himself clear that 
here too, no pure feeling exists, that rather, the whole is named 
according to a predominating subjective attribute. Where 
strict, sharp observation is necessary, we limit the expression 

* W. James, Psychologie. German by Marie Diirr, Leipzig, 1909, 
376 ff. P. Fischer, Darstellung und Kritik der Hauptansichten iiber die 
Natur des Gefiihls in der neuesten Psychologie, Breslau, 1897, p. 13 f. 
An excellent presentation of the investigation of the psychology of 
emotion from 1900-1909 is given by Mathilde Kelchner in the Archiv 
t d. ges. Psychologie (Lit.) Vol. XVIII, pp. 97-164. 

f Meumann, Int. u. Wille., p. 290, 

t Witasek, p. 317. 



52 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

' ' feeling ' ' to the perceptible factors of pleasure and displeasure 
in a mental experience. 

In criticism of the physiological theories of emotion, may- 
be advanced: the asserted organic sensations are admitted. 
Ebbinghaus alone rightly recalls in this connection that the 
emotional theory of James and Lange cannot explain why 
emotions can never appear in consciousness without content to 
which they are connected and why sensations like those of pain, 
hunger, etc., are inseparable from the emotions belonging to 
them.* Further, sadness is something different from percep- 
tion of weeping and its accompanying innervation sensations 
plus the idea of a state of affairs. " I am glad ' ' says something 
different from ' ' I have intestinal sensations, brain innervations 
and more of the same." For psychoanalytic work, however, 
the deciding of this debated point is not necessary. 

Many psychologists assign feeling, with Wundt, to the vo- 
litional acts, so far as in every pleasure, an inclination exists, 
in every displeasure, a disinclination, and every emotion pre- 
pares or can prepare for a volitional act.f The transition to 
the volitional act is formed by the affect, this "coherent flow 
of emotion of unified character. ' ' $ 

As simplest form of volition, one usually considers the vo- 
litional act which, under the influence of an affect, proceeds 
toward the goal of setting aside this affect. ' ' The affects which 
arise from sensual emotions, as well as the omnipresent social 
affects, such as love, hate, anger, vengeance, are the original 
sources of the will, both with man and the lower animals." || 
The affect, with its accompanying idea, forms the motive for 
the act and indeed, the former is the impulse and the latter, 
the motive. In the decision, the emotions mutually inhibit one 
another and thereby always lose more and more in intensity.lT 
The will seems then (falsely) determined by purely intellectual 

* H. Ebbinghaus, Grundziige der Psychologie, 3rd ed. (Diirr), Leip- 
zig, 1911, Vof. I, p. 543 f. 
t Wundt, Grundriss, p. 217. 
jP. 214. 

II Grundriss, p. 216, 
if P. 223, 



VOLITION 53 

motives. In similar repeated external or internal decisions 
of the will, the previously subordinated motives appear weaker 
and finally disappear * altogether, the victorious motive also 
retreats, the volitional act is set free by the external stimulus 
(without appearing in consciousness, it becomes mechanical, 
automatic! 

In this whole development, I find no occasion and no oppor- 
tunity to separate causality of will and assign it to physiology, 
to the psychophysical materialism. Even if one traces the 
will back to an act of judgment, the formula of Fouillee holds : 
"La volition est la determination par un jugement qui pro- 
nonce que la realisation de telle fin depend de notre caus- 
alite propre. " | " Aucune combinaison de passivites n 'ex- 
pliquerait d 'une mainere intelligible le sentiment d 'activite, et 
le vouloir-vivre est aussi clair en nous que la sensation 
meme. " || 

All volitional impulses may be comprised in groups accord- 
ing to their aims and traced back to some few purposeful 
efforts of the volitional subject. Such simple tendencies of 
definite aim, to speak with Hoffding,11 such pressure of activity 
directed by the goal idea, the development of which tendencies 
is seen in the varied extent of mental processes, we call, from 
the psychological side, instincts. In every-day life, one speaks 
of hunger-, self-preservation-, sexual-, knowledge-instinct, etc. 
In general, one traces them back to two fundamental instincts : 
the instincts for preservation of self and the race,§ hunger 
and love (Schiller) or to the ego instinct and the sexual instinct 
(Freud).** I do not think that one can be satisfied with this 
division, so far as one understands with Freud under the ego 
instincts, only the strivings toward preservation of the in- 

*P. 226. 

t P. 227. 

t Fouillee, La psychologie des idees-motrices, Paris, 1893, 2d. Ed. 
II, p. 263. 

II P. 232. 

IfHoflfding, p. 119. 

§Witasek, p. 364. 

** Freud, Psychoanalytische Bemerkungen ii. e. autobiographiseh 
beschriebenen Fall von Paranoia, Jahrbuch III, p. 65. 



54 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

dividual being. It seems to me that it is quite as good to speak 
of an instinct for individual and racial improvement, continua- 
tion or enrichment. If we express the instincts in these defi- 
nitions according to their motive impulses, then we can denote 
them according to their sources as life impulse, pleasure 
hunger or libido. It is really arbitrary to limit the latter name 
entirely or principally to the sexual instinct. 

The psychological derivations gained, do not necessarily 
belong to the presuppositions of psychoanalysis, to which fact 
I call especial attention. Freud himself is close to psycho- 
physical materialism when he sees, for example, in instinct, 
"the psychic representative of organic forces."* At all 
events, however, psychoanalysis favors, as we shall see, the 
voluntaristic psychology which considers the instincts as the 
determining factors, the ideas more as only the organs of these. 

Let us proceed now, after having gained the very necessary 
and valuable connection to the earlier psychology,! to an in- 
vestigation of the unconscious. 

Can a common attribute be shown in the examples cited by 
us, from which we may succeed according to our formulie of 
hypothesis and law to a scientific comprehension of unconscious 
mental forces ? 

As a matter of fact, one characteristic predominates in our 
collected cases : throughout, as we followed the causes of strik- 
ing phenomena, we encountered painful ideas which had once 
been conscious, then however, and just at the time of those 
phenomena, disappeared from consciousness. The idea itself 
was painful because it corresponded to a very strong wish 
which was prohibited by a higher demand. The phenomena 
we have presented, which we recognized as offshoots of un- 
conscious mental impulses, turn out to be compromise products, 
in which two opposed currents of high intensity effect a com- 
promise. 

* Same. 

t The psychoanalyst is very glad and ready to learn from the experi- 
mental psychologists since he in general does not pose as having the 
only proper method. 



REPRESSION 55 

We will show this in our examples. On account of the 
simplicity, I will choose the schematic form on page 56. 

The unconscious motives which are reflected in the symptoms, 
were unconscious, in part only at the moment of the symptom, 
in part in general foreign to consciousness until the analysis 
raised them above the threshold.* 

The conflicting ideas, as well as the nature of the conflict 
of these ideas, will be discussed in the following chapters. 
Likewise, we shall have to investigate why not every conflict 
of two emotionally toned ideas furnishes a subconscious motive 
for phenomena such as we found in the previous examples. 

So far as the collision of two ideas occasions a subliminal 
motive influencing the mental or physical life, we speak of a 
repression. Accordingly, an idea is repressed when it comes 
into conflict with one or more other ideas of higher value to 
the individual in question and, as a result of this conflict, is 
forced out of consciousness. 

That there may be such a repression of conscious content 
by opposing content, was not first discovered by Freud. Her- 
bart has already originated a theory of repression. He says : 
"We all notice within ourselves that of our total knowing, 
thinking and wishing, in any particular moment, an incom- 
parably smaller amount actually occupies our attention than 
that which might appear upon proper occasion. In what con- 
dition does this absent but not dissipated knowledge, which 
remains and persists in our possession, exist in us ? . . . What 
can prevent our firmest convictions, our best intentions, our 
cultivated emotions, often over long periods, from becoming 
effective? What can produce the unfortunate sluggishness in 
them, which so often exposes us to vain regret? Other 
thoughts have busied us too completely! This we all know 
already from experience. And yet we have preferred to lose 
ourselves in the heresies of transcendental freedom and radical 
evil, which destroy all healthy metaphysics, to making exact 
investigations of the psychological mechanism on which plainly 

* From later experiences, it is shown that also behind the conscious 
motives, powerful unconscious ones lurked. 



56 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 



a 

'3 



OJ 


!-. 


-n 






T) 


o 


n 




o 


03 




d 




■+J 




■tj 






^ 


(1> 


a> 








<5 




s 
y. 




^ 






^ 



t-l -« 



^ a 






>i 'xi «, ^I'rtf^?? 



4) 03 

Q 5 ^ 



.5 ^ 



•? - . § fe i g J i i 5 

a> rH ro Ji: 

i-H-PCiii— liSi-na *-!&, I— i-i-T 






;3 rt o 



-a 



^ a 

a -3 a 



& I 



o be o •--• be o be © 



UNCONSCIOUS MOTIVES 



57 



w t, 






a ^^ 



•3 ^ 



CD " 



Ph 



-a 



be-;- 

f^ 2 
o o 










QJ 




Tli 






bC 




i 










rQ 










a 






















■ rH 










c3 








Ol 






a 

02 




a 




o 
o 

■i 


0) 






-(J 


a 

0! 








bo 






-73 


-S 


0) 

cS 




03 

o 




O 




xn 
% 

(1) 

fi 


i 


i 

u 

«4-l 


o 


p 


^ 
-S 
^ 






.3 

bD 

cS 

a) 




f-i 

o 

a 

Ol 


a 


% 

a 


1 

a 

Ol 












03 






o 




oS 










cS 




ra 






oo 




to 


















■73 
O 


bb 






-i 










+3 


o 




^ 


a 






JO „ 










-p 


m 




3 


^ 














cS 


m 






Ol 


a> 




ai a 


Q^ 


^ 








a 




oS 


Xi 




cS _0 


> 


o 






to 


=+-( 






3 






'-4J 


O 


bjD 

a 


a 

O 




w 

«PH 


m 
oS 




1=) 

Ol 

a 


to 

03 
Ol 

'a 

ra 


o 

-p 

bc 

o 

a 




a 03 

•s .a 

t> Ol 




fl 


a 






0) 


01 


a 


01 


^ 




Ol 


O 


o 


_o 




-u 


,a 




^ 


."^ 




JZl -u 




% 


+3 

.S 




rt 


a 


o 

cS 


a 
o 


Ol 

so 


'fH 




cS 


I::) 


1 




ra 

H 


01 

,a 

Ol 

a 


a 

u 
o 

3 


CO 

o> 


a 


a 

l-H 


a 
1 


;^ CO 

>> 
(r^ a 












CJ 




s 




a 


o 












'-P 


Ul 




to 




-Q 


^ 



68 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

the blame must lie. . . . Two ideas suffice to repress a third 
completely out of consciousness and to occasion a totally in- 
dependent condition. One idea alone cannot do this against 
the two. . . ."* 

"As we speak of the rise and fall of ideas, so I would call 
an idea 'under the threshold' when it lacks the power to fulfill 
those conditions under which it is perceived. Just the condi- 
tion in which it then exists is always the same as complete in- 
hibition; still, it may be more or less completely 'under the 
threshold' according as more or less strength is lacking to it, 
and must be added in order to pass the threshold. ' ' t 

We find these important thoughts entirely substantiated. 
To-day, too, one usually prefers to flee into metaphysics, 
especially into psychophysical materialism, rather than trace 
out the conditions of the repression. The psychoanalytic in- 
vestigation confirms in surprising degree, as we shall see later, 
the observation that one idea alone is never sufficient to repress 
another. Behind the ideas given in our table, there lurk, with- 
out exception, further submerged, related ideas ("overdeter- 
minants ") . We shall also find Herbart 's sharp-sighted theory 
of the degrees of repression to be correct. 

It is not necessary to enumerate the whole list of psycholo- 
gists who, since Herbart, have recognized the repression as 
existing. I mention only one especially keen student of 
humanity, Nietzsche, who says: " 'That have I done,' says 
my memory. 'That have I not done,' says my pride and 
remains inexorable. Finally, memory yields. ' ' J 

Also, psychiatrists like Pick and Hellpach already recognized 
before Freud that repression plays a role in certain "nervous" 
diseases. 1 1 

It is to be emphasized that by no means all the unconscious 

* Herbart, Psychologie als Wissenschaft, neu gegriindet auf Erfahrung, 
Metaphysik und Mathematik, Part I, Section 47. (Werke, herausg. 
V. Kehrbach, Vol. V, Langensalza 1S90), p. 292. 

t P. 293. 

t Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und Bose, IV, p. 68. 

II Bleuler, Die Psychoanalyse Freuds, Jahrbuch. II, p. 692. Schultz, 
Psychoanalyse, Zeitschrift f. angewaudte Psychologie, ,1909, p. 486. 



THE UNREPRESSED UNCONSCIOUS 59 

is brought about by repression. Freud lays stress on this 
statement.* That which is commanded in hypnosis or that 
which is forgotten without the pressure of antagonistic ideas, 
to reappear again sometime, is not repressed and yet uncon- 
scious. Also, according to Wundt, the underlying, ultimately 
absent, motives in similar decisions of will, are repressed.! 
Further, we can assert with Diirr "that every disconnected 
content, appearing beside other psychic processes, brings with 
itself an encroachment upon the consciousness of those proc- 
esses. ' ' t Pedagogy, and that of the intellect as well as that of 
the will, has to do in great part with this unrepressed uncon- 
scious and has exact knowledge of its existence. 

Psychoanalysis also deals with this matter. One should not 
be deceived by the plan of this book concerning this condition 
of affairs! But to-day, the analytic movement founded by 
Freud stands in a stage which is devoted almost exclusively 
to the repressed unconscious. With the other subliminal com- 
ponents, the traditional psychology and pedagogy is already 
busying itself more than it knows. Pedagogy has always pro- 
ceeded toward the origin of ideational and emotional disposi- 
tions. Psychoanalysis gained entirely new ground and wholly 
new pedagogic possibilities for work from the investigation of 
the repressed phenomena below the threshold. Further, the 
knowledge of repression-free subliminal components, as it has 
thus far been attained by the help of the Freudian investiga- 
tion, proceeded from the repressed material and can best be 
shown in connection with those investigations. Perhaps, in a 
few years, the presentation here sketched, which proceeds 
from the repression, vdll no longer suffice. 

* Freud, Gradiva, p. 40. 

t Wundt, Grundriss, p. 226. 

t E. Dtirr, Die Lehre von der Aufmerksamkeit, Leipzig, 1907, p. 149. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE INDIVIDUAL REPRESSED MATERIAL 

Having traced the unconscious by the aid of analysis to its 
subterranean lair, we will now with true sportsman's zeal, 
examine the valuable savage at closer range. In this, we 
should not allow ourselves to be influenced by any preconceived 
opinion. He is a miserable hunter who would allow his quarry 
to be run to earth by a forester, beforehand, and afterward 
complain that he should have come skillfully to his object ! 
Fortunately, not only has Freud constantly and fundamentally 
changed his views concerning our object, but there prevails 
among his followers a multitude of different opinions. This 
occasions the lively opposition of the critics. Hence, one can- 
not avoid the tedious developing of one's own judgment. 

I. Freud's Theory. 

I shall not take back with the left hand what the right gave, 
if I, nevertheless, present some theories in which Freud and 
others have formulated their insight into the nature of the 
repressed material. By my procedure, the reader will see on 
what things to depend and he will be protected from all kinds 
of errors into which so many critics, in manners conceivable 
and inconceivable, have fallen. Thus I ask, not for rude Frau 
Fama faith which, according to Friedlander's complaint, has 
brought the reproach of "pansexualism" against psycho- 
analysis, but to test in unprejudiced manner what Freud has 
said and then to investigate in truly objective manner in how 
far his view is correct. 

Nothing has so injured the estimation of Freud's work as his 
thesis that the cause of every hj^steria, anxiety and obsessional 
neurosis is to be sought in the sexual life. This statement has 

60 



FREUD'S THEORY 61 

its previous history. In the beginning (189-i), the founder of 
psychoanalysis asserted only that he had found as cause in all 
cases of obsessional neurosis investigated by him, a painful 
affect from the sexual sphere, but nevertheless, he did not 
exclude affects from other fields.* In the "Studies in Hys- 
teria" (1895), he said, however: "The observation forced 
itself upon my attention that in so far as one may speak of a 
cause by which neuroses are brought about, the etiology is to 
be sought in the sexual agencies." t That he came to this 
insight against his will, he declares % by saying that it was 
long enough before he was "converted" to this view; this he 
mentions three years later. 1| 

The original thesis was soon (1896) made more explicit by 
Freud's assertion that the sexual traumas of early childhood 
were the cause of hysteria; these traumas consisted of actual 
irritation of the genitals, coitus-like procedures, sexual pass- 
ivity in presexual periods.lF At the same time, Freud believed 
he could establish § the origin of the obsessional neurosis in 
sexual activity, namely in "aggressions carried out with 
pleasure and participation in sexual acts associated with 
pleasure." In spite of the violent opposition which arose 
against him, he saw in every case the ultimate foundation of an 
hysteria in a sexual experience in early childhood and indeed 
in sexual intercourse (in broadest sense).** In addition, ac- 
cording to a communication in 1898, the thought prevailed 
that the sexual cause of the neuroses might not be the exclusive 
one, but that it "only added one more to all the known and 
probably rightly recognized etiological agencies of the 
authors." ft 

Later (1906), Freud went beyond these hypotheses. In a 

* Freud, Die Abwehr-Neuropsyehosen. Kl. Schriften I, p. 51. 

t Studien. iiber Hysterie, p. 224. 

t P. 226. 

II Kl. Schriften I, p. 158. 

HP. 113. 

§P. 118. 

**P. 160, 162. 

tfP. 189. 



62 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

personal article, he partially retracted his previously expressed 
views regarding the role of sexuality in the causation of the 
neuroses.* A mass of later observations made him certain, in 
the course of a decade, that a traumatic experience did not 
necessarily lie, at the bottom of the malady but often only a 
phantasy ("memory fancy").! As the outer activities lost 
in importance, the inborn tendencies, now however, as "sexual 
disposition," gained the upper hand. J 

It remained, however, in the statement that the psychoneuro- 
tic suffers II from a repressed sexual complex, the word taken in 
its broadest sense. ]\Iore recently, it has been announced that 
the sexual instinct affords the only constant condition and the 
most important source of energy in the neurosis, "so that the 
sexual life of the person in question expresses itself, either 
exclusively or predominantly or only partially, in these symp- 
toms. ' ' II The hysterical individual bears within himself a 
bit of abnormally strong sexual repression alongside an ex- 
cessive elaboration of the sexual instinct. "The occasion for 
the malady develops for the hysterically disposed person, w^hen, 
because of the progressive maturing processes or external rela- 
tions of life, real sexual demands make their appearance in 
earnest. ' ' § This statement has likewise proved to be unten- 
able since hysterical children have been analyzed. 

Freud's sexual theory underwent a sharp elaboration in the 
formulations of the year 1908: "The hysterical symptom 
corresponds to the return to a manner of sexual gratification 
which was real in infantile life and which has since been re- 
pressed." ** "The hysterical symptom can assume the repre- 
sentation of various unconscious non-sexual impulses but can- 
not dispense with a sexual significance. "ft 

* Kl. Schriften I, pp. 225-234. 
fP. 229. 
tP. 230. 

II Kl. Schriften II, p. 119 (1906). 

f Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie 1905, p. 8; 2d Part 1910, 
p. 25 f. Kl. Schriften II, p. 180. 
§P. 27. 

** Kl. Schriften II, pp. 142, 150. 
tfP. 143. 



FREUD'S THEORY 63 

Only in the last few years did Freud see himself compelled 
to revise the definition of sexuality. He did it in 1910 in the 
following important words: ''It cannot have remained un- 
perceived by the physician that psychoanalysis is accustomed 
to suffer the reproach that it extends the term, sexual, far be- 
yond the customary extent. The complaint is just ; whether it 
may be applied as reproach, may not be discussed here. The 
term sexual includes far more in psychoanalysis ; it goes both 
below and above the popular sense. This extension is justified 
genetically; we reckon to the 'sexual life' also all play of 
tender emotions, which have sprung from the source of primi- 
tive sexual impulses, both when these impulses experience an 
inhibition of their original sexual goal or have exchanged this 
goal for another one, no longer sexual. We speak, therefore, 
preferably, of psychosexuality, putting emphasis on the fact 
that one should not overlook nor undervalue the mental factor 
of the sexual life. We use the word sexuality in the same 
comprehensive sense as the German language does the word 
'love.'"* 

How much indignation and animosity would have been 
avoided if this explanation had been given earlier ! But a long 
struggle was necessary before this stage of knowledge could be 
reached. That we are in no way dealing with an entirely new 
theory, Freud pointed out, later still, when he asserted that 
"all our valuable emotional relations in life, those of sym- 
pathy, friendship, faith, etc., are genetically joined to sexual- 
ity and have developed by the decline of the sexual goal from 
purely sexual desires, however pure and non-sensuous they 
may seem to our conscious self perception. Originally, we have 
known only sexual objects; psychoanalysis shows us that the 
merely esteemed and revered persons of our reality may still al- 
ways be sexual objects for the unconscious in us." f 

If one adds these statements to Freud's previous expositions, 
they contain no very startling thoughts. Insert for "sex- 
uality" the word "love" and no one will deny that sympathy 

* Freud, tjber " wilde " Psychoanalyse. Zentralblatt f. Pse. I, p. 92. 
t Freud, Zur Dynamik der tJbertragung, Zbl. II, p. 171. 



64. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

and friendship and faith have something to do with sexuality. 
For who can conceive of those ethical functions without love ? 
Further, that they are based on sensual experiences of child- 
hood is obvious. It is only questionable whether for the latter, 
the predicate of sexual is to be recommended. We shall speak 
of this later (Chapter VIII) after our data is more complete. 

"We see on the one side, the term sexuality constantly more 
generalized until it is finally withdrawn from speech usage to 
the most extreme unintelligibility, and on the other side, the 
range of activity of sexuality extended ever further and fur- 
ther. In 1900, Freud said that the majority of the dreams of 
adults deal with sexual material and bring erotic wishes to ex- 
pression, even when one does not see it in the content of the 
dream.* Of late (1911), he has traced back the day-dreams, 
which are so important for pedagogy, and indeed religion, art 
and education, in great part, to sexual processes of develop- 
ment.! To the capability of the sexual instinct to exchange 
the immediate sexual goal for more remote and socially more 
valuable ones, or to yield contributions of energy to the latter, 
Freud ascribes a decisive importance for the attainment of the 
highest cultural achievements. $ The idealistic characteristic 
of his sexual theory here comes beautifully to expression. 

The criticism of this theory did not long remain absent. 
From the side of opponents as well as from that of adlierents, 
besides high admiration, there were presented weighty con- 
siderations. We understand the opposition right well. 
Freud's original assertions and the later terminology were very 
challenging. But it was unfair to accuse the analysts of try- 
ing to spy out sexual motives. The emphasizing of that kind 
of causes is founded rather in the force of circumstances, which 
is felt as very troublesome. Thus, Ferenczi says: **At the 
Third Hungarian Psychiatric Congress in Budapest, I com- 
mitted an error in my paper, several years ago, which is difficult 

* Traumdeutung, 2d ed. p. 197, 3rd. ed. p. 205. 

t Formulierimgen iiber die zwei Prinzipien des psycli, Geschehens. 
Jahrbuch III, p. 5 f . 

t Freud, uber Psychoanalyse, p. 61, 



FERENCZI AND FREUD 65 

to make good : I left out of consideration the investigation of 
neuroses by the Vienna University, Professor Freud. This 
omission was all the more culpable since I had knowledge of the 
works of Freud. Already in 1893, 1 had read his article. To- 
day, when I have been convinced in so many cases of the correct- 
ness of the Freudian theories, I must ask myself why I so 
rashly reproached them at that time, why they seemed to me 
at that time a priori improbable and artificial and especially : 
why the assumption of a purely sexual pathogenesis of the neu- 
roses called forth in me such a violent resistance that I did not 
once accord them a closer study. In palliation of my attitude, 
I must at all events state that the vast majority of my colleagues 
still to-day maintain toward Freud an entirely negative atti- 
tude. The few, however, who later tested it, usually became 
enthusiastic adherents of the hitherto entirely unconsidered 
movement. ' ' * Bleuler and Jung also could not believe in 
Freud's emphasis of the sexual causes of the neuroses until 
they turned to the authority against which the opponents of 
psychoanalysis cherish an insurmountable aversion, the per- 
sonal observation, t Bleuler emphasizes that he guarded more 
than enough against leading his patients by his questions to 
sexual matters.! I have already said that I had exactly the 
same experience. || And so it has gone with many others who, 
like the experienced neurologist. Prof. James J. Putnam,1f felt 
themselves at first repelled by certain assertions of Freud, then 
recognized the duty of testing and changed into ardent ad- 
herents of psychoanalysis. 

II. Personal Observations 
"We shall first present the facts in the ease. In this, we shall 
carefully consider whether we come upon sexual causes aiid 

* Ferenczi, Wiener Klin. Rundschau, 1908, No. 48. 

t Bleuler, Die Psychoanalyse Freuds. Jahrb. II, p. 642 f . 

t Bleuler, Pementia prsecox oder Gruppe der Schizophrenic, Leipzig 
and Vienna, 1911. 

II Psychoanalyt. Seelsorge u. exper. Moralpiid. Prot. Monatsh., 1909, 
p. 34 f. Ev. Freiheit, 1910, p. 19 f. 

H Putnam, Personliche Erfahrungen mit Freuds psa. Methode. Zbl 
I, 533. 



ee THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

promise now, as we are standing before important decisions, 
that we will neither deny sexual facts because of prudery or 
fear of men nor will assert such from preference for a clever 
doctrine. 

I begin with a few cases chosen at random, the sexual moti- 
vation of which lies on the surface. 

1. Educational Problems plainly dependent on sexual 

Matters 

A young woman of twenty-three years is suddenly pursued 
by tormenting hallucinations. On the street, snakes glide over 
her feet ; snakes hang from the ceiling of her sleeping-room to 
her bed, the stove-pipe, the telephone cord, a stick in the cellar 
a finger long, change into snakes, so that she can no longer 
visit certain places because of anxiety. In bed, she cannot 
stretch out lest she touch a snake ; further, eating is prevented 
since she is afraid of biting the same animal. 

Some days before the outbreak of the trouble, a woman had 
warned the girl in a religious conversation. The latter had 
confessed that she often yielded to sexual impulses and asked if 
this were sinful. The answer was so disquieting that immedi- 
ately a fervent vow against the evil habit came into the field. 
The analysis quickly disclosed the meaning of the hallucina- 
tion. Previously, the girl had been afraid that there might be 
a man under her bed, now she believes that there is a snake lying 
there. He who knows that in Greece at certain feasts, a serpent 
was likewise laid in a chest like a phallus, sees through the 
meaning of the anxiety symptom already, A quieting explana- 
tion, which afforded the excited instincts opportunity to adapt 
themselves to idealistic goals, eliminated the visions in a few 
conversations. "Whether complete sublimation * at once oc- 
curred, I do not know, since I have no information on this point. 
Some weeks after the hallucinations had disappeared, this vic- 
tim of anxiety-hysteria visited a pietistic preacher who gravely 
warned against sins. The girl remembered the ideas of her 
counsellor and renewed her vow. Some days later, the snakes 

* Transposition into activities of higher ethical value. 



ANXIETY PHENOMENA 67 

were promptly in their places, to be likewise promptly banislied 
by renewed and deeper analysis, this time probably forever. 

A girl of sixteen, who fairly hates all men, suffers from 
severe anxiety upon going to sleep. All men except Jesus can 
be imagined only with erect penises. Often, she hallucinates 
a man who disappears behind her bed. In dreams, she sees 
herself naked, pursued and whipped by her father. The man 
whom she hallucinates evenings, plainly resembles a boy who 
misused the little girl sexually in her eighth year, in company 
with her brother and another boy. The girl says she has a 
burning desire to give herself to the first man or boy she may 
meet. Life is repugnant to her. In an analysis lasting eight 
or nine months, often tedious, the important hysterical symp- 
toms were eliminated but the anxiety still remained, although 
in much less intensity and this only completely disappeared 
when the girl left her parents' house and removed to another 
city. Since then, the girl, in whom the physician had diagnosed 
beginning dementia praecox, has been cheerful and genial and 
her ethical conduct is most commendable. The parents whom 
she hated bitterly in past years, she loves tenderly. 

The woman of forty-eight years mentioned on page 36, who 
had hallucinations of an angel vision, reported in the same 
quarter hour, an attack of anxiety which seized her every 
evening as dusk was coming on. [Have you experienced pre- 
vious to the beginning of the anxiety attacks, something very 
painful in the hours of dusk?] "My father caused hateful 
scenes. ' ' [Did you not also experience something which would 
still more excite an eighteen year old girl?] "Yes, a friend 
of my brother once made improper demands in the hours of 
dusk but I resisted him. In the beginning, I feared the young 
man would come again. This thought soon disappeared but 
the anxiety remained." [When you are in this condition to- 
day or to-morrow, recall exactly the experience with the young 
man.] For two or three months, this person, who was of limit- 
ed mentality, was free from anxiety. When this returned, I 
found that the memory of the content of our conversation was 
entirely absent. When I simply impressed it again, definite 



68 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

recovery occurred, at least no relapse has occurred up to 
to-day (three years) . Even if superstitious suggestions, Avhich 
I could not prevent, aided, still the easily performed analysis of 
a condition of thirty years standing, which analysis had not 
taken a half hour altogether, was well recompensed. 

A student, aged twenty-two, has been subject since his thir- 
teenth year to a severe case of obsessional washing. In spite 
of all ridicule on the part of his associates, he washes his hands 
countless times. The obsession broke out after his father had 
treated him for masturbation by boxing his ears and whipping 
him. In some other eases of obsessional washing, I found a 
similar cause. 

The same patient has suffered for seventeen years from severe 
asthma, because of which, he has had to leave the preparatory 
school repeatedly, losing in all one and a half years. The in- 
firmity would overtake him on the open street so that he would 
drop down; it frequently caused a loud whistling during his 
speech and most grievously disturbed his rest at night. One 
day, I found that the patient, when five years of age, had suf- 
fered from pathological fear of steam rollers and .fires and had 
slept constantly under the covers. The apperception of the 
idea "steam roller" immediately called forth associations which 
the patient recognized as descriptive of a marital embrace. 
The steam roller proved to be a symbol for the puffing father. 
(Somewhat later, a fear of horses which this patient had had 
when two years old, v/as traced back by himself, by means of 
the associated words, to an exchange of the horse with the be- 
getting father so that the case agreed completely with Freud's 
later published case of phobia in a five year old boy.*) Two 
days after the interpretation of the machine-phobia, it was 
noticed that the asthma had ceased coincidently with the lat- 
ter. The suspicion of hysteria was strengthened b}^ the fact 
that in his eleventh year, when the boy had shared the sleeping 
room with an asthmatic patient, the whistling sound in breath- 
ing had appeared as difficulty in breathing. I therefore ad- 
vised the patient with complete avoidance of suggestive pres- 

*Jahrbueli, I, pp. 1-109. 



ASTHMA AND SEXUALITY 69 

sure, to throw away the smoking powder and upon the outbreak 
of oppression in the chest, to recall exactly what kind of 
thoughts were running through his mind at that particular 
time. The energetically applied autoanalysis revealed every 
time a sexual scene in which the patient practiced that puffing 
which he had already recognized as the cause of the fear of the 
steam roller. As the connection of the asthma with the sexual 
idea was made clear, the anxiety disappeared in a twinkling. 
After one or two weeks, the last remnant of a tormenting afflic- 
tion of seventeen years' duration had disappeared without leav- 
ing a trace. The cure has since lasted some years as the patient 
assures me. It is to be noted that practically simultaneously an 
immense network of hysterical symptoms, phobias and obses- 
sions was overcome, so that the youth, at one time of apparently 
superior religious and moral nature, who for many years had 
been unbelievably depraved and been treated in various psy- 
chiatric institutes without result, may be considered cured in 
two or three months. A quarter of a year later, several 
psychiatrists pronounced him completely restored to health. 
In autumn, there appeared a relapse into disorderly habits, 
since the Don Juanism, which was still unknown to me at the 
time, had not been analyzed and probably ethical feebleminded- 
ness was also present. The youth left me in anger and resumed 
many pathological symptoms including the asthma. A short 
written communication, in which I expressed my indifference 
toward such puerility, again restored health. 

The elimination of the asthma came about, as the reader sees, 
by the autoanalysis, almost without interpretation by the edu- 
cator, a case, which unfortunately does not always occur. 

To illustrate the elimination of a very painful, and for the 
moral development, dangerous phobia, I submit the following 
case. The hysterical and obsessional neurotic patient just de- 
scribed, underwent, while in the preparatory school, every 
forenoon about nine o'clock, an anxiety condition which drove 
him out of school. Trusted comrades, he begged imploringly 
to hold him fast. Father or mother acompanied him daily to 
the school building which he nevertheless often left by a side 



70 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

door. When, after wild adventures, he had been enabled by 
analysis to resume his studies, the phobia appeared again. 
Therefore, one day, I directed the patient's most concentrated 
attention to the symptom, requested any association, even 
though it should be beside the point and received the following : 
when the patient, years before, suffered severely from pollu- 
tions, forenoons at nine o'clock, an inspection of his body- 
linen was made, at which time, sharp rebukes for his masturba- 
tion were given. The teacher, who read at nine o'clock, re- 
minded him of his father, as the strict teacher at that time had 
done. The former, like the father, had remarked : ' ' Nervous 
people must sleep long!" The phobia left at once when the 
patient, upon my instruction, kept the scenes with the father 
hefore his eyes when the anxiety condition appeared. Here 
too, the phobia is explained by the splitting off of the idea and 
the appearance of the affect belonging to it alone. Results 
which entreaties, tears, threats, punishments and rewards had 
not brought to pass, the analytic religious instruction attained 
with ease. 

In all observations of anxiety, not organically conditioned, 
on closer examination, a sexual inhibition became evident. 
This happened also with the obsessional acts and ideas, which, 
as is known, also punish with anxiety those disobedient to their 
demands, I give only two examples which may claim peda- 
gogic interest. 

The first was an obsessional neurotic patient, a single man 
of forty-seven years, who has had, since his twelfth year, an 
■unbelievably obstinate struggle against the number thirteen. 
His suffering compelled him to leave the preparatory school 
and has muddled his whole life. He must constantly take the 
number into consideration : every thirteen minutes before and 
after an hour brings an attack of anxiety, likewise, every posi- 
tion of the hands of the clock which yields thirteen, for ex- 
ample, 8:23 (sum). Other situations which call forth anxiety 
are — to select a few from hundreds of cases : it strikes eleven 
o'clock, two persons are in the room, or the clock points to 
eight, five persons are sitting at table. He cannot stay away 



OBSESSIONS 71 

from liome thirteen hours. The whole month of March, 1910, 
is an unlucky month in which he can undertake nothing im- 
portant, likewise February, 1911, etc. The hours from five 
to eight 'clock are dismal because of their sum, 26 = 2 x 13. 
Every thirteen lines of a letter, every number thirteen in addi- 
tions, brings torment. Not only the houses numbered 13, but 
also all persons dwelling in these, he must avoid. Many times, 
the anxiety is traced back to the fateful number by very arti- 
ficial connections. 

Further, the highly intensive religious life of the patient is 
influenced by the number 13. Every thirteenth verse of a 
chapter is unlucky. A section which begins with verse 13 af- 
fords no consolation. Because a song of Gellert stands in the 
song-book as No. 13, he can read no other of the same poet. 

Most noteworthy is the prohibition to go to bed at ten 
o'clock. Every evening, he must say three prayers, which 
makes with the hour again thirteen. The prayers are : 

1. "Now I go again in God's power 
In Christ's strength 

In Jesus' blood 

That no evil one may do me harm. 

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, 
of the Father (sic)." 

2. "Guard me and protect me, my God, my soul and my 
body, my honor and my property, guard me, God, my dear 
father, guard me, God, my dear mother, guard me God, 

. . . . brother, sister, acquaintance and relative, 
that I beg of you, my God in Heaven ! Amen. ' ' The 
father had died twelve years before, the mother fifteen.) 

3. "Great God, forgive me my grievous sins! Amen." 
The following things serve for defence : avoidance of critical 
situations, selection of favorable times, in particular, however, 
consideration of a church clock. 

The connection with sexuality was easily seen : Before the 
outbreak of the illness, the boy tormented himself, even to 
melancholia, with reproaches and vain struggles against onan- 
ism, to which two men had misled him. All his lifetime, he 



7^ THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

■was tremendously afraid of pollutions and considered sexual 
intercourse a cause of weakness and insanity. Besides, the 
question troubled him whether abstinence might not also be 
injurious. Countless times, the very w^ealthy and handsome 
man attempted to become engaged but found himself every 
time forced to back out. Strong was his constantly suppressed 
desire to compare his sexual member with that of others. 

"Without doubt, the disease is nevertheless determined in its 
form mostly by the parents. "With the austere, superstitious 
father, who chastised him sharply, he always got along badly. 
So much the more fervently, did he love the mother, who suf- 
fered from anxiety and obsessional washing. Both parents 
feared the number 13. But also, in relation to the parents, 
sexuality played a role : from the sight of the parents with few 
clothes on, the child felt himself powerfully repelled and cried 
out in anxiety if the mother had to rise in the night and went to 
the bed of his brother. 

The analysis was not completed, for my visitor wished only 
a cure by prayer from me and would not submit to the demands 
of an analytic treatment. The therapeutic result was a priori 
doubtful. 

The other case is that of a sixteen year old boy of good en- 
dowment, who for ten years had been compelled to hold his 
hands out of the water when in a warm bath and got into the 
greatest excitement if he was prevented from this. At the be- 
ginning of the trouble, three years ago, the physician prescribed 
carbonic acid baths for him with slight results. The reaction 
experiment ("Water-Snake") immediately aroused the sus- 
picion that something had happened to him in the bath which 
had some connection with the virile member. As a matter 
of fact, it turned out that the baths in common with his father 
had left behind the impression that there was something hor- 
rible in the water. "Without the slightest suggestion from my 
side, the memory recalled by the patient himself in this connec- 
tion sufficed to banish the obsession. 

The continuation presupposes previous knowledge of sym- 
bolism. I therefore beg the reader to leave the psychological 



SYMPTOM ANALYSIS 73 

means out of consideration and to pay attention only to 
whether, without suggestive illusion, sexual roots of the neuro- 
sis were found. The youth, in whom we recognize the brother 
of the clucking Princess Hadwig (see above page 33), for 
years tossed plates, glasses and food into the air, to put them 
down again at once. This, he did, however, only when one of 
the sisters, especially the younger one, who is known to us, 
was present. The sight of the restless boy is painful. If the 
boorish acting fellow is refused the evening greeting by his sis- 
ter, he walks up and down his room weeping for a long time. 
The analysis of this symptom took the following course : the boy 
cannot describe for me with certainty the action practiced 
countless times daily for years (with few exceptions). I had 
it demonstrated by the other members of the family. Then I 
called the youth himself to produce the motion with closed 
eyes and sharp apperception and received this : "It reminds 
me always of the leaping-bugs, crabs and fleas." [Leaping- 
bugs!] "Little insects which jump very often. These I 
found once in X." [X !] "There, I found for the first time 
'impatiens noli me tangere.' (The mother afterwards sub- 
stantiated that the fruit of this plant had made a great im- 
pression upon the boy at that time six years old; the boy knew 
the meaning of the name.) They jump just like little leaping 
crabs." [Crabs.] "At the time when I would eat no fish I 
would also eat no crabs. Before, I had eaten a fish, a flounder, 
the member of which had struck me unpleasantly." (A 
sterotyped dream in which a dragon and indeed a composite 
figure of flounder and flying dragon had given the boy anxiety 
some six years before, likewise went back to that experience.) 
[Fleas.] "And cicadas, they all jump alike. I think that 
my habit arose still earlier from the crabs because these always 
excited me." [Did a sexual organ in the crabs impress you?] 
"No indeed — still, the hind parts of the crabs in question, from 
which one drew the shell, was wormshaped like the member of 
the flounder." (He showed me in his collection the different 
animals, the similarity of which was important to him.) [The 
fear of crabs and the impression of the "leaping bugs" are 



74 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

thus sexually conditioned. The latter led you before to ' ' noli 
me tangere ! "J " That is probably also sexually conditioned : 
it is called: do not touch the snake ( !) (Hence the gestures 
in the bath.) The fruits of the 'noli me tangere' are worm 
shaped ; upon being cracked open, they roll up. My movement 
only occurs when the family is present, never in my room." 
[Thus, when the sister, with whom you were morbidly in love, 
or are now, somewhat, was also near you. Her presence makes 
you lustful, you wish to repress this instinct. From this con- 
flict, proceeds the action.] "That is possible." 

It is seen that the patient, on account of my interpretation, 
given in the end by himself, which, by exercising greater pa- 
tience, I could quite well have let him find himself, was not yet 
completely convinced. Nevertheless, the somewhat summary 
method was sufficient: From that same evening, the painful 
habit has disappeared for good. 

Of other obsessional acts, only one may be mentioned : The 
patient could endure no open drawers, especially, when nap- 
kins roUed-up lay therein. The latter, in general, he gladly 
let alone. [Think of the drawer in imagination !] "I see the 
napkins rolled up in it. My napkin-ring suddenly disap- 
peared. It bore a picture of X" (the place where you found 
the 'noli me tangere'). [Goon.] "Plants and crabs. . . . 
The rolled up napkins had much the same form as the fruit 
of the noli me tangere. Accordingly, napkins entirely open, 
make no impression on me, rather only closed ones. You see 
here a representation of the noli me tangere. When the fruits 
are opened, they roll up like the napkins." 

From this hour, the obsessional impulse was definitely 
eliminated, still the napkins ("Noli me tangere = touch me 
not") were left lying open for some weeks longer until I called 
the boy's attention to the reason for the omission. The attitude 
toward the sister also became normal. 

Also in hysterical symptoms, the sexual basis is often in 
plain view. An eighteen year old pupil has suffered for three 
weeks from severe blinking of the eyelids (tic nerveux) . The 
under lid of one eye is automatically drawn sideways. Asked 



UNTRUTHFULNESS 75 

concerning the way it originated, he says, that at that time, 
he rubbed a bit of coal dust out of his eye. Having his attention 
sharply fixed on this occurrence, he remembered that he had 
formerly seen a girl who winked in this way and thought at that 
time she might have injured her nerves by bad habits. He 
himself struggled in vain against masturbation which he con- 
sidered a disgrace. So far the associations. If we have under- 
stood the metaphorical meaning of many symptoms, then we 
shall not consider it farfetched if we consider the automatism 
as a representation of the unconscious motive. "The sexual 
misdeed is removed like the soot from my eye. ' ' The tic dis- 
appeared from that moment.* 

Some examples among healthy individuals which are in- 
structive for educators, may follow: 

Untruthfulness. A member of my parish asked me to give 
him the name of an educational institution to which he could 
take his untruthful foster-daughter. The sixteen year old girl 
spread the rumor that she was attacked with obscene and vul- 
gar expressions by him, the foster-father, and a certain pastor. 
Also in other matters, she lies with unbelievable impudence and 
obstinacy. I explained to the man that first the mental status 
of the delinquent should be determined before the question of 
institutional care could be decided. The conversation with the 
young sinner revealed the following particulars, almost all 
of which I could substantiate as authentic : 

The girl spoke to the pastor she accused only once and was 
kindly treated by him. She loves him because the youth who 
has gone abroad, on whom she has cast her eye, is strongly at- 
tached to the man. The little liar maligns, in the manner 
described, only men with whom she is in love. From the un- 
truthfulness, which came over her in her twelfth year, she gets 
no advantage. Sobbing, she reports that she often has to weep 
in bed because she lies so terribly, and seems unworthy of 

* Such brief analyses afford the beginner a certain satisfaction, but 
not the psychologist and thorough worker. I would not present them 
as models to be copied, but wish rather that the reader consider the 
analysis as a really tedious, slow and difficult educational work. (See 
Chapter XXIV). 



76 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

instruction for confirmation. Often, she prays to God for 
freedom from her faults but the next day, everything goes just 
so much the worse. In the house of the pastor who gave her 
religious instruction, she suffered, while climbing the stairs, 
such violent anxiety that she could scarcely leave the spot. 

The latter occurrence, as well as the violent trembling of 
the guilty girl during her confession and the content of the lies, 
show us the hysterical, obsessional character of the untruthful- 
ness in queston. The slanders express a wishf ulfiUment : 
The little girl would like to be attacked and treated as a pros- 
titute by the passionately loved men. But she represses the 
wish which now comes forth as a demon from within, with ir- 
resistible power in the form of evil reports. The vain love 
changes into hate and gratifies itself in phantastic verbal vio- 
lence. The untruthfulness was just as old as the masturba- 
tion and expresses the tendency to conceal and dissimulate a 
fault, whereby she refrained from actual delinquency. 

Kindly instruction concerning these connections brought an 
immediate end to the lying impulse. Not a single untruth more 
was observed in the following months, to the astonishment of 
the foster-parents. That which requests and punishments, 
self-reproaches and prayers had not attained, was accomplished 
by the analytic pedagogy with ease, while a reformatory insti- 
tution would perhaps only have made matters worse. 

Kleptomania. A seventeen year old pupil feels an irresist- 
ible compulsion to steal a rubber ring (bicycle tire) in his store, 
although he possesses no bicycle and must assume that his theft 
will come to light. After a long struggle, he succumbs. He 
steals the tube, plays with it in great excitement for some 
minutes, and indifferently sends it to a comrade. His action 
was punished by dismissal. He overwhelmed himself with re- 
proaches and believes himself a born criminal since he com- 
mitted the crime against his will and involved his father in a 
dishonesty. Other emotional complications appeared, sleep- 
lessness prevented peace of mind and thus there has existed for 
a long time severe melancholia. 

The "thief against his will" had repressed masturbation and 



CRUELTY TO ANIMALS 11 

therefore indulged his evil passions in a symbolical phantom, 
the tube. 

The female counterpart to the male symbol just mentioned, 
excited another of my pupils. The eighteen year old lad, in 
broad daylight, in spite of the high probability of being dis- 
covered, unscrewed from a bicycle in front of a butcher-shop 
the clasp in which the pump should be carried. The youth, 
who was of an excellent and well-to-do family, was also caught. 
Shortly before, he had attempted to observe his mother in the 
bath-room. 

These results confirm those of Otto Gross, Stekel,* Eiklin 
and others. He who knows the exigency of many kleptomani- 
acs, will wish that a teacher, trained in analysis, may very soon 
meet the unfortunates. Thieves who are ethically defective, 
in whom, from birth, the moral consciousness is lacking, are 
not considered in this category. 

Cruelty to Animals and Passion for Destroying Things. 
A candidate for confirmation, aged sixteen years, who has be- 
come estranged from God, the world and himself, the son of 
a luetic, confessed to me his self-danger. One day, he sees a 
charming kitten sitting in the sun. At once, there awakens in 
him the burning desire to maltreat it. A fearful unrest seized 
him until he had procured a stick and struck the sleeping 
animal on the nose with all his strength. The young cat was 
half dead from pain and fright but the boy had a strong feeling 
of pleasure. Gratified, he made off. Another time, he felt 
compelled in the empty school-room, to destroy the mantle of 
a Welschbach burner and again experienced a kind of sexual 
orgasm. Flies, he maltreated to as slow death as possible. 

The same boy loves games in which he is tormented. He 
gladly allows himself as captured Indian to be bound to the 
martyr's stake and urges his companions to draw the bands 
still tighter, to throw things at him still more recklessly. In 
the torture he feels the sweetest delight. 

Cat and gas-mantle represent, as so often in dreams, male 

• W. Stekel, "Die sexuelle Wurzel der Kleptomanie." Zeitschrift 
fiir Sexualwissenschaft, 1908, pp. 588-600. 



78 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

and female sexual objects. The young sadist practiced mutual 
onanism with his younger brother but gave it up from con- 
siderations of health. The animal represents to him, the 
brother, whom his passion seeks. The rod signifies in his vul- 
gar speech, the male organ. On the sister, the mantle-destroyer 
projects incestuous phantasies. The damming up of the sexual 
desire violently inflates the sadistic-masochistic instinctive tend- 
ency. 

One sees from our example, how invertedly those pedagogues 
act who subject every tormentor of animals to corporal punish- 
ment. They wish to enforce sympathy with the animal's feel- 
ings of discomfort. Very many tormentors of animals are, 
however, sadists, consequently also, more or less masoehists, 
and obtain from painful punishment only that which gratifies 
them and strengthens their cruel instincts. 

Aversion to Work. A girl of eighteen, who is engaged, 
willingly performs all the duties of the housewife except clean- 
ing windows which is revolting to her. The symbolism of the 
window so frequently demonstrable in dreams, solves the 
riddle. It has to do with the repression of masturbation. 
Freedom from the symptom resulted immediately from the 
analysis. 

Symptomatic Acts. He who engages for a long time in the 
analysis of apparently meaningless gestures, which constantly 
recur, gradually becomes able to read intimate secrets with 
certainty from these stereotyped habits. 

A fifteen year old pupil was accustomed to make f requentl}^ 
a peculiar grimace, in which he turned up his nose and finished 
it with the outstretched index finger under it. Often also, he 
drew the chin down and scratched under the right corner of 
the mouth. One day as I was speaking from the text : ' Sin 
is at the gate,' I decided to send up a little analytic exploring 
balloon. Glancing indifferently at the boy, I spoke of the temp- 
tation to lying, cheating, stealing and boasting. The boy's 
face remained unchanged. Still, as I pointed out that unfortu- 
nately, obscene, evil things were spoken and done, his finger 
shot under his nose and scratched according to his habit. At 



SYMPTOM ANALYSIS 79 

the end of the hour, in repetition, I repeated the experiment 
with the same result. 

Although I knew already that a severe conflict was troubling 
the pupil, I did not urge my help. I knew for a certainty that 
the boy would tell of himself. Nine months later, he appeared 
and asked my aid. The turning up of the nose expressed dis- 
gust at an odor. The outstretched finger closed the one nostril 
to protect him and simultaneously expressed symbolically the 
cause of the unpleasant exhibition. The youth had mastur- 
bated. The odor of semen was repulsive to him and yet he 
longed for it. Hence, the one nostril was held shut, while he 
breathed through the other. A similar compromise was be- 
trayed by the action of the finger which passed as female sym- 
bol, thereby refusing cohabitation. (Similar phantasies and- 
symptomatic acts are often found in impotent individuals. By 
picking the nose, in spite of all commands to the contrary, or 
when a youth is all the time sticking his finger through his but- 
tonhole, no matter how much the teacher admonishes against 
it, the analytic teacher knows that the appetite of the lustful 
one knows no limit in his phantasies. ) 

The scratching at a corner of the mouth went back to an 
ulcer which my pupil had long had in that place and in maso- 
chistic inordinate desire, did not allow to heal. The defect in 
good looks vexed the somewhat vain boy and he wishes it away. 
Now, as he torments himself with reproaches because of mastur- 
bation, he makes use of the earlier material : Like the earlier, 
so also may the present defects be banished. Also here, the 
same finesse as in the mimicry in the nasal zone : The scratch- 
ing keeps up the defect which should still be eliminated. There- 
by, the wish is expressed to practice masturbation and still be 
freed from the blemish. If this favorable outcome appeared 
in the physical defect why not in the moral? The gesture 
ceased from that hour. 

2. Repressed Material Founded on Erotic Conflicts 

Frequently, the educator, while investigating a disturbance 
of moral conduct, a psychogenic (^mentally caused) physical 



80 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

symptom or some other repression symptom, comes upon emo- 
tional conflicts. Many times, upon deep investigation, lie finds 
behind the disturbance of the relation to the parents, brothers 
or sisters, comrades or other companions, still another com- 
plication which we designate as sexual in the sense of the ordi- 
nary narrow speech usage. It is, however, not always the case, 
so that we shall speak of a sexual etiology only when we trace 
back the eroticism in general, especially the love to the parents 
and other people, exclusively or predominantly to sexual ex- 
periences. 

According to my view, love toward other people, even at the 
very first, is dependent on the instinct for the preservation of 
the race ; as I do not make the latter synonymous with sexuality, 
however, (compare Chapter VIII, 1) so I cannot designate that 
love as sexual. Further, the eroticism is established, in good 
part, on the cultivation of the ego emotions. That, also in the 
eroticism, energies which once belonged to sensuality, are con- 
stantly utilized, is in no way denied by this statement. 

A girl of about eighteen years, who was sent to me because 
of antipathy against all people, with the exception of one girl 
comrade, and distaste for life, showed, soon after entrance into 
the school (age of 7 to 8 years), strong dislike towards parents 
and companions. The latter she avoided and at about twelve 
years of age, displayed an aggressive scornful behavior toward 
them. In the first period, she frequently had a stereotyped 
anxiety dream: "On a straight road, she goes between two 
swamps, from which many hands are extended toward her to 
pull her down. " The analysis easily revealed : The other pup- 
ils laughed at the child who still believed in the Christ child and 
the angels who bring children and informed her that the mother 
carries the baby in her body and if she could not quiet her 
child, they cut off her breasts. Still other hateful ideas, they 
brought to the terrified child. In the dream, there is indicated 
the wish to allow herself to be pulled down by her companions 
of same age into the swamp of obscene ideas and probably also 
of acts, but at the same time, the still stronger desire to escape 
from them. From her twelfth year, after reading a book about 



SEXUAL ENLIGHTENMENT 81 

Buffalo Bill, the girl often dreamed she was an Indian chieftain 
and killed a crowd of Pale Faces. The masochism is alter- 
nated by sadism. In her homosexual phantasy, the outlaw 
knows how to avenge herself grimly, which corresponds to 
her conduct in reality, only that life imposes limits on the 
hate. 

Would the whole attitude toward humanity and life not have 
taken another direction if a sensible enlightenment on the part 
of the mother had been given at the proper moment? The 
well-meaning woman spared no sacrifice for her daughter whom 
she educated affectionately and intelligently regarding other 
things. But her endeavors went to pieces on the repression. 
Since symptoms of dementia precox were present, the girl 
was taken by me to an analytic psychiatrist and apparently 
cured by him, at least she has remained perfectly normal for 
more than a year. 

A girl pupil of fifteen years complained of peculiar sensa- 
tions in the hands and feet, which cause her to seek her bed 
immediately. Upon the report of sudden illness or unexpected 
death, she got into violent excitement and trembled in her 
'whole body. I commanded her to concentrate her attention 
on the prickling places and give her next association, "My 
friend. I am so fond of her. " [And she of you?] "Just as 
fond." [Press the places on the hands which have the crawl- 
ing sensation.] "Again this friend." Somewhat later she 
related the dream of the night before. ' ' I was going along the 
street. Someone embraced me." [Think of the place in the 
street.] "I know it. I met the friend there yesterday. " It 
turned out that the little hysteric in the presence of her friend, 
felt an uncontrollable desire to embrace her. The girl is going 
away soon, my pupil fears she will be forgotten and left en- 
tirely alone. The tactile hallucination gratifies the need for 
affection (Moll's Kontrektation). Now it was explained also 
why the girl had felt the phenomenon so vividly the second 
day previously when the mother remained away so long and a 
longing for her broke out. With the mother, the child does 
not get along well but eagerly wishes for her affection. 



Sa THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Further, the excitement upon the news of sudden illness and 
death, brings forth the memory of a friend. Two years before, 
she played one day in the bed of a little sick companion whose 
father had accidentally left his finger-ring. Our patient put 
the ring on her own finger in play. The comrade died unex- 
pectedly that same night. From that time, the excitement be- 
gan. Three years before, her own luetic father had died of a 
disease which was localized in the same organ as that of the 
friend. I forgot to ask whether the death of this man, even 
if also long expected, had occurred suddenly. Probably that 
was the case. 

Now when a shocking report of illness is heard, the memory 
of the analogous previous experience is not awakened, but 
merely the accompanying afi'ect, the anxiety. The idea be- 
longing to this affect, as is often observed in similar cases, re- 
mains repressed. 

In this description of the occasions for anxiety, sexuality 
exercises a decisive role. The inhibition of the emotional 
forces seems to turn the scale. Now, however, the girl relates 
an anxiety dream which she had immediately after the death of 
her father, in which dream, the latter plays a role. The anal- 
ysis was not possible since unfortunately, after the one con- 
versation, the symptoms disappeared without leaving a trace, 
unfortunately, since a real unraveling of the conflicts still 
present would have been necessary. Still, it is probable, — 
we will later show the origin of the anxiety — that behind the 
dream, unsatisfied sexual desires existed. After another half 
year of complete health, slight distaste for life appeared and the 
well known hysterical jealousy toward a sister had in the 
meantime planted a grudge against me so that I was shunned. 
The earlier symptoms remained absent. 

This sister, aged twenty, suffered, besides from many easily 
removed hysterical obsessions (mild squinting, turning of the 
head, twitching of the corner of the mouth and melancholia) 
from a very unpleasant phenomenon, an obsessional love. In 
her pastor, who had confirmed her, she was, in spite of his 
earnest remonstrances, immoderately in love, so much the 



OBSESSIONAL LOVE 83 

more as slie struggled against it. It is worthy of note that in 
solemn moments, especially in church, she had to laugh, for 
which, in the pension, she was repeatedly punished in vain. 

The girl related that from her childhood, she was greatly 
slighted by her father and hence disliked him. She also dis- 
liked her mother. When something was to be shared, she 
never seemed to get her rights. Toward her numerous sisters, 
she was envious. 

The first obsessional laughing occurred during the funeral 
sermon which the pastor preached at her father's bier and in- 
deed following the remark, how sad it was that the father had 
to be separated from so large a family. The instruction for 
confirmation, the girl sought gladly, only she hated the teacher 
since he praised her too little, but she rejoiced greatly over 
every word of recognition. The ceremony of confirmation ex- 
cited her to laughter when the speaker said: ''And you. 
Father, and you. Mother, do you not rejoice at the sight of 
your daughter?" 

Removed to a distance, our pupil fell passionately in love 
with a woman teacher who showed her kindness, kissed her 
every evening and, especially on days of illness, overwhelmed 
her with attentions. Much speaks in favor of the illness itself 
representing an extortion of tenderness. The previously strong 
religion suddenly disappeared at that time, to reappear again 
as quickly after the separation from the passionately loved 
one. 

After the return home, she acted coldly toward the pastor 
until he, one evening (probably accidentally), pressed her hand 
in friendly fashion, but on the other hand, overlooked her 
sister and friend who were standing close by. From that hour, 
she loved him passionately. Plainly, she found in him again 
the longed-for father as she had before hated him as such. 
The obsessional laughing, the beginning of which was expressed 
by the twitching of the corner of the mouth, betrayed the 
gratification over the father's death and especially the mali- 
cious joy toward the sisters. 

In this report, there is lacking the proof of sexual factors. 



84 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

But we see that this patient also leaves us in the lurch since 
she lost her obsessional love after the second session and in a 
base attack captured the lover of her elder favored sister. If 
one finds a scientific explanation among cured patients of 
this class, still, upon closer investigation, one discovers a num- 
ber of other conditions, since every neurosis possesses a very 
complicated bundle of roots. That also in our case, a sexual 
cause was decisively at work, we could only assert if we were 
sure that the decidedly sexually colored love toward the pas- 
tor was an unchanged new edition of that toward the father. 
But we have not yet discussed the transposition of emotion. 

The following case of stuttering seems to be conditioned on 
asexual eroticism. A boy of sixteen, candidate for confirma- 
tion, could not get beyond the beginning of his speech. After 
violent effort, he produced a sobbing tone, spoke a few words 
normally and again stuck fast. His father is a drinker. His 
sister, ten years his elder, educated him harshly and as it 
seems, without love. She often struck him and if he broke out 
crying, she increased the punishment. For years, the young- 
ster has had no one in whom he could confide and felt himself 
unfortunate in life. Only at night in bed, could he give way to 
weeping, by day, he throttled his suffering. We understand 
well that the boy expresses his suffering in his speech dis- 
turbance and comes automatically to his weeping. But we 
suspect further that other material is hidden deeper. Unfor- 
tunately, after the conversation, the inhibition remained absent 
and the boy likewise. After about a year, the evil returned, 
but not bad enough to send the deserter to me. At that first 
time, he had told of improper acts of his comrades and played 
the dear innocent. Probably he feared to tell the whole truth. 
I cannot definitely assert this, however. 

It is in no ways to be wondered at, if many observers quickly 
assert that no sexual motive was present calling for careful 
reticence. I myself plead guilty of having originally lightly 
denied the sexual etiology in cases which I thought I could see 
through, until to my confusion, I was taught better. I know 
also how uncommonly difficult it often is to penetrate to the 



TRAUMATIC NEUROSIS 85 

foundation of a neurosis * and cannot therefore, admire the 
diagnostician who, after two or three or even after one con- 
sultation, asserts that a sexual etiology is not present. From 
the fact that in some sputum examinations, no bacilli are 
found, it does not follow that the patient in question has none. 
Every profound shock to the individual — and only such an 
one occasions a neurosis — also implicates the sexual sphere 
and is also reflected in sexual phantasies, for the psychic life 
constitutes an organism, in which the suffering of one part 
causes suffering in other functional fields. From the existence 
of sexual inhibitions, therefore, we may not yet decide that 
these have exclusive etiological significance. 

3. The Asexual and Anerotic Repressed Material 
(a) the traumatic neurosis 

Something which is often urged against Freud's sexual 
theory is the occurrence of traumatic hysteria. From ancient 
times, it has been believed that merely a terrific shock was suf- 
ficient to occasion a nervous malady. The father of psycho- 
analysis found in such cases without exception, however, that 
the disease was prepared for by a sexual difficulty. A man of 
forty-five years who became ill from anxiety upon the report of 
the death of his father, lived, for example, eleven years with 
his wife in coitus interruptus. This same habit which, ac- 
cording to the consensus of opinion of all psychoanalysts,! is 
very injurious, prevailed in some other examples. 

I, too, could find such connections in spite of my limited 
experience. A young merchant complained to me that, as a 
result of a railroad acident, he was suffering from nervous 
trouble. When the accident happened, a train which he saw 
coming, ran into his wagon. Since then, he repeatedly hal- 
lucinates this scene on the road with great anxiety. Upon be- 
ing questioned, he said that he was engaged and only gets an 

* Wherever in this book, neurosis ("nervous trouble") is mentioned, 
I always mean psychoneurosis, that is, one based on mental complica- 
tions, not the neurosis organically conditioned. 

t Compare Freud, Kl. Schriften I, p. 71. 



86 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

attack when, after a visit to his fiancee, he is seized on his re- 
turn trip. The man had a suit pending against the railroad 
company for immense damages for injury from this accident. 
He did not seem enraptured with my advice to have himself 
cured by a physician skilled in psychoanalysis. The physician 
would not be one to be envied as I know from a second, similar 
case, the analysis of which went to pieces on the money-hunger 
of the victim. 

Nevertheless, I also know traumatic neuroses which pro- 
ceeded smoothly to health without sexual material appearing. 
Of course, in this case, a superficial exploration was sufficient, 
so that sexual material could very well have remained hidden. 
An example : 

A teacher sent me a good-natured but poorly-gifted school 
girl of ten years for therapeutic pedagogic treatment. The 
little one came accompanied by her mother. She has suffered 
for five weeks from complete paralysis and twitching of the 
left arm, frequently falls on the left side, awakens every night 
at a quarter to ten with anxiety and twitching of the mouth. 
In the absence of the child, I asked regarding shocking ex- 
periences and learned that five years before, an adult had 
frightened the child by seizing a knife in sport, making a fright- 
ful grimace and threatening to kill the child. The latter rushed 
to the door and fled but had to stay three days in bed as a re- 
sult of the fright. Since then, she has been abnormally timid. 
The evening before the illness, the child had been awakened 
at a quarter of ten by the cries of night rovers. 

The further investigation, I carried on with the child, and in- 
deed at first for some minutes in the presence of the mother, 
when I saw how confiding toward the mother she was in her 
presence. The child is also very kindly disposed toward her 
father and sister. [Do you remember the man who threatened 
you years ago?] "Yes, he took a knife out of the drawer and 
would kill me. ' ' [No, no, he was only fooling, he was a regular 
'Lappi' (foolish fellow), the dear God keeps you safely. How 
do you move the arm?] (The child twitched a few times, 
swung the arm forward and turned the hand outward, the three 



SYMPTOM ANALYSIS 87 

outer fingers being closed. The movement was so quick that I 
could not clearly observe it and did not at once grasp its mean- 
ing.) [You turn your hand as if you would say no.] "Yes. ' ' 
[Do you know how you lay in bed when you were awakened 
five weeks ago?] "Yes, against the wall." [On which side 
of the body?] "On the left." [And then?] "I wished to 
spring up but could not because I lay on my arm and leg." 
[And hence you thought you could not move the arm and leg ? 
Pay no attention to that ' Lappi ' and think that the singing boys 
who behaved so foolishly, would also certainly do nothing to 
make you suffer. Here you have three beautiful books which 
you may read if you can carry them yourself.] (The girl who 
could carry nothing that noon carried the books triumphantly 
away with firm step.) 

Now, of course this was not a regular analysis. If the 
thought of critical psychologists had been in my mind, I would 
have refrained from the massive suggestion. 

Three days later, the mother and child appeared a second 
time, the twitching of the arm and failure of the foot had al- 
most disappeared, likewise, the pavor nocturnus at a quarter of 
ten, still the arm seemed quite weak. In the night following 
our conversation, a very disagreeable disturbance had broken 
out, in which frequent emptying of the stomach had occurred. 
[Do you experience something nauseating?] "Yes, a girl 
would push me into a nasty pile." (For two months, the 
eruptions remained away.) 

The automatic distortion of the mouth went back to censure 
from the father. The latter reproached the child because 
spots were often visible on the pillow and said to her : ' ' Shame 
on you ! A big girl should no longer sleep with her mouth 
open ! ' ' The movement really only appeared when the little 
one was embarrassed, for example, when she could not answer 
a question. 

After this consultation, the child was apparently well. In 
the third session, we found from the posture of the fingers, 
and turning of the hand that the arm gesture expressed the 
wish to open the door. The twitching of the mouth was still 



88 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

present in slight degree but disappeared after a few days with- 
out further analysis. 

A month later, the little hysteric wished to visit me. The 
mother would not grant it on this day. Thereupon, the child 
vomited and obtained the mother's consent. For two years, 
the girl has been entirely well. 

To-day, I regret that I did not proceed in more correct 
analytic manner and that I yielded so much to suggestion. 
Hence, I can give the case neither for nor against Freud 's con- 
ception of the sexual root of the neuroses.* 

Still, I know of a number of traumatic neuroses, as for ex- 
ample, two cases of stuttering resulting from fright from a 
glimpse of St. Nicholas. But I have received no patients of 
this class for the health pedagogic treatment as yet, since the 
parents, upon the appearance of such a phenomenon, which 
indeed falls less in the domain of the moral life, have with 
good reason turned to the physician. 

(b) other psychoneuroses 

No single case of any other neurosis is known to me, in which 
the sexual or erotic disturbance of the mental equilibrium has 
been absent. Now and then, totally different conflicts stood 
in the foreground but without exception, they received a strong 
addition in emotional values from the erotic sphere, in which 
case, this fatal erotic situation was not necessarily founded 
on abnormally unfavorable external relations. Often, the 
inability to adapt to well intentioned and useful demands of 
the parents, created severe erotic denial. Excessive severity 
on the part of the father or the mother only sharpens the 
conflict but cannot occasion it if specific subjective conditions 
are not present. 

This may be observed in two cases of writer's cramp. One 
of these was in a clerk of twenty-nine years, who, a year 
previous, had become ill under peculiar circumstances. An 
official of the same name had obtained a leave of absence on 

* Freud also considers the utilization of intentional suggestion in 
Bucli cases as proper. 



WRITER'S CRAMP 89 

account of a nervous malady; besides this, an office girl was 
absent. Thus, there fell to my patient for several months, an 
extra amount of work without his being satisfactorily rewarded 
therefor. After the return of his colleague, he hoped like- 
wise to obtain a leave of absence but was refused his wish, 
although he represented to his chief that he, the solicitor, has 
a much harder post than his companion, not a single five 
minutes could he write undisturbed and he was therefore much 
more exposed to the danger of a nervous illness than his 
namesake. The writer's cramp, he considered a harmless dis- 
turbance which could be easily cured. The wish for a non- 
dangerous nervousness, he did not remember plainly, but 
rather considered his nerves as shattered by an unhealed 
venereal disease. 

"With this sexual trouble, an erotic one interacted. In order 
to escape an irregular life, he sought a wife by advertising in 
the newspaper and began a love correspondence which he 
maintained with bad conscience. Inwardly attached to an- 
other girl, he feigned in his letters a love which in reality did 
not exist. When, now, the hope of winning the one he really 
loved, awakened, the resolution to break off the unfaithful re- 
lations failed him, since he had already gone too far. The 
disturbance in writing came, therefore, as in another of the 
cases observed and cured by me,* to relieve a deep need and 
wish that he might release himself from the conflict between 
■desire and duty. 

That the non-erotic wish played an important part, how- 
ever, is shown by the development of the disturbance. So long 
as the hysteric wished to put off only the burdensome work, 
his hand was drawn outward. Some months later, a change 
appeared : The pen jumped into the air every few moments. 
What had happened? The firm had dismissed him and paid 
him off. Now, the patient changed his plan so far as to say 
to himself, he would not return again to the earlier dependence 
but seek something "higher." From the beginning, he had 
wished as rich a wife as possible. I could not discover that a 

* See p. 126. 



90 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

change in the erotic relations and plans began when the cramp 
changed. Still, it is not excluded that unconsciously, a varia- 
tion of the erotic phantasy was present. Since the patient 
was scarcely suitable for pastoral influence and really be- 
longed to the domain of the physician, I discharged him before 
beginning the deeper analysis, with the advice to go to a 
neurologist. He remained refractory and two years later was 
still uncured. 

Also in the second of the cases mentioned here, the dis- 
turbance of writing met an ardent non-erotic wish: The 
youth, aged twenty-four, wished to change his vocation but 
could not obtain the consent of his parents to this end. Soon, 
it became plain that the contracture formed only an insignifi- 
cant symptom in a group of very important ones. Preeminent 
was a strong suicidal tendency. The neurologist to whom I 
sent the patient at once after this discovery, could not cure 
the severe hysteria; this patient will repeatedly engage our 
attention later, since the youth would not separate himself 
from the extreme, fanatical, orthodox father whose badly 
planned pedagogical treatment caused and maintained the 
disease.* 

This much, I believe I may say in general, that a man who 
is capable of loving and whose compulsion toward love and 
agreement on the part of the parents, husband, bride or wife 
or some near substitute for these, is satisfied, can suffer no 
disease-forming repressions. Further, loss of property, lack 
of recognition, injuries to reputation, indeed religious or 
ethical considerations, scruples and the like, create only por- 
tentous deviations in the development of a youth when a 
severe sexual or erotic shock is joined to them. 

"We shall come later to Adler's important theory that all 
neuroses trace back to feelings of insufficiency. 

* Another youth, whose unfortunate relation to his father caused 
■writer's cramp, I sent at once to a physician. The analysis was at 
first without results, since the separation from the father, an orthodox 
bigot, had not taken place. Some weeks later, the patient took a 
position away from the family and immediately got well. 



CHAPTER V 

THE REPRESSING FORCE 

A REPRESSION can only occur when an instinct is inhibited. 
This can happen by reality rendering the activity of the in- 
stinct impossible or by a second desire opposing the first one. 

1. Reality as a Factor in Repression 

A repression is created by reality when either a previously 
utilized instinctive activity is rendered impossible by a change 
in the external world or an instinctive function, which has be- 
come necessary to the further development of the individual, is 
denied. In the first case, there is a deprivation, in the second, 
an abstinence. 

(a) the deprivation 

If, on account of the death or unfaithfulness of the beloved 
person or other processes, an erotic relation, whether a real 
relation or a strong hope, is destroyed, then a repression fre- 
quently appears. The person in question wishes to drive the 
tormenting idea from his mind, but thereby forces it under 
the threshold of consciousness, from whence it continues most 
unpleasant activities, often just at the time when it pushes 
forward another idea. If we are dealing with a deprivation of 
less painful kind or if the instinct affected can and will allow 
of some ideal substitution, either of equal or higher value, 
(compare Chapter XVII, Compensation, and Chapter XI, 
section 5, Sublimation) then the man bears the loss without 
pathological detriment. It is otherwise in the irreparable in- 
juries of high emotional value or in refusal of later transfer- 
ences. The latter condition, the refusal of a new love to other 

91 



92 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

people, the refusal of a love substitute, is an indispensable con- 
dition of the neurosis. 

It is known that the death of dear persons, the decline of 
health with its effects on the expectations of life or similar 
shocks can call forth severe emotional disturbances or renun- 
ciation of reality. Many psychoses break out after a death, 
also many withdrawals from the w^orld. Francis of Assisi 
became a visionary through grave illness, Raimon Lull, upon 
the sight of the breast of his beloved, Armand Jean le Bout- 
hillier de Ranee, the founder of the Trappist Order, eaten by 
ulcers, made the world a death-house, after he had met his 
bride in her coffin upon his return home. 

On the basis of numerous observations, we shall also derive 
such processes from the repression. An example which pre- 
sented itself in the analysis of a foreign lady in the climacteric, 
is as follows : 

When a girl, eighteen years of age, she fell in love with a 
vivacious but somewhat brutal man who courted her sister but 
was refused. After his departure, the girl, in whose kindred 
and circle of acquaintances there was not a single pietist, de- 
voted herself to a passionate adoration of Jesus which drew 
her into a congenial, world-fleeing conventicle. When twenty- 
two years old, she married a much older brother-in-law, wholly 
because she wished to be a good mother to her nephews. The 
older stepson, an image of the knightly father, she treated 
with rare consideration, though without affection; vnth the 
younger, an ungovernable hotspur, she was in continual con- 
flict. As tlie youngster grew to young manhood, the conduct 
of the mother changed strikingly : she gained his affection and 
treated him tenderly. One day, he explained to her that the 
pietistie Savior, in whom he had thus far been taught to be- 
lieve, was becoming distasteful to him, the pietistie mood, weak. 
To the general astonishment, the mother replied that she had 
felt the same way for some time. Soon after, the youth died. 
The shock drove the mother into stoicism and after several 
years, to grave hysteria. Four years of treatment according 
to Dubois was without result. In the meantime, the physician 



SUBLIMATIONS 93 

went over to Freud but severed the altruistic sublimations. 
Hence the patient remained dependent on him and got into 
the greatest need, since she had to hate the physician fiercely 
and at the same time to love him and during the conjugal act, 
had only him before her eyes. She was easy to cure in two 
consultations. When by the previously given analysis, the 
injurious transference had also been dissolved, an uncommonly 
strong piety set in, which placed God as the Father and his 
social commands in the center of her life. 

The connections are easy to discern: The pietistic Jesus 
is the sublimated contrast-substitute for the loved one. The 
libido flows back to the stepson who resembles the lover so 
that Jesus must be given up. After the death of the erotic 
object, no new adoration of Jesus can ensue because this would 
-have meant unfaithfulness to the dead. The stoicism shows 
us the involution of the libido ; the hysteria, the failure of that 
attempt at sublimation in philosophy. The analysis elimi- 
nated the fixation on the youthful loved one and disclosed the 
transference upon the father, who, in the figure of husband 
and of God, stilled the longing of the heart and rendered 
possible a fruitful social activity. Also, the frigidity could be 
eliminated, and thus the marriage, after twenty-four years of 
barrenness, became a completely harmonious and happy one 
after the ethical conflict had also been removed. 

An elderly woman, some weeks after the death of her hus- 
band, suddenly suffered from anxiety that her prayers were 
ineffective, that she could not pray any more. As we will 
show in numerous examples, anxiety is the constant result of 
unsatisfied sexual demands. 

(b) abstinence 

A repression may also occur without external changes, when, 
during normal processes of development, a hiatus is created be- 
tween subjective demands and objective allowance.* The rise 
of the neuroses and of religious conversions during the period 
of puberty, the increase of melancholia in the climacteric with 

* Freud, xjber neurotische Erkrankungstypen. Zbl. II, p. 299 f. 



94 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

its intensive sexual need, all go back to this process. "A 
young man who has previously gratified his libido (his 'love- 
impulse' [Liebesdrang] ) by phantasies with an outlet in 
masturbation and now wishes to exchange this regime, which 
is closely related to autoeroticism, for the real object choice, a 
girl who has directed her whole affection toward father or 
brother and now would allow to become conscious for a man 
who is courting her, the hitherto unconscious, incestuous 
wishes of the libido, a woman who would renounce her polyga- 
mous tendencies and prostitution-phantasies in order to be- 
come a faithful wife to her husband and a blameless mother; 
all these persons become ill in their praiseworthy efforts if 
the earlier fixations of their libido are strong enough to resist 
a displacement. ' ' * 

A single woman of thirty-three years became happily en- 
gaged to a virtuous man and held him very dear. When she 
would make the bridal visit to his home place and ascended 
the stairs with him, she suddenly felt tremendous anxiety and 
her love vanished in an instant. She was inconsolable over 
the loss of her emotion, especially as she was happy before 
and acted happy. He who is acquainted with the symbolism 
of stair dreamsf or knows what erotic significance "mount- 
ing" has in the colloquial German speech, "monter, grimper" 
in the French, will not be surprised that this act of repression 
occurred on the stairs. My surmise that a dementia precox 
was present was confirmed by the neurologist called in con- 
sultation. After the breaking of the engagement, there came 
states of excitement with ideas of persecution, yet after some 
months, health apparently returned. 

If one examines such eases more closely, one sees that the 
external world only causes a repression when there was already 
present beforehand a strong internal tension which reaches 
back even to childhood. The lady who fell back upon 
stoicism had lost her father very early and suffered severe 

* Same, p. 299. 

t Freud, Traumdeiitimg, 3rd ed., p. 215 f. Eobitsek, Leiter als sex. 
Symbol i. d. Antike. Zbl. I, p. 686 f. 



MOTIVES IN REPRESSION 95 

sexual traumata. The husband, whose character resembled, 
that of the father, took the place of a man who was passion- 
ately loved and unforgotten and the bad experiences of the 
first years were again rendered acute by the conjugal demands. 
The dementia praicox patient who lost her love on the stairs, 
looked back to a youth devastated by the drinking of the father, 
and the husband of the friend she had just visited was likewise 
addicted to alcoholism. The revulsion against her fiance soon 
clothed itself in fear of his drunkenness although there was 
not the slightest occasion in the life of the man for this accusa- 
tion. 

So in this collision with reality, we are dealing at bottom 
with an internal conflict. The person whose eroticism is well 
provided for, can endure incredibly hard blows of fortune and 
hardships, whether it is a question of the satisfaction of the 
love-need as it occurs in the relation to fellowmen or of the 
ideal eroticism in science, art, nature study, religion and other 
sublimated activities. 

2. The Inner Life as a Factor in Repression 

If we review our first consideration (page 56, col. 4) 
of the repressing motives, we are struck by the numerical pre- 
ponderance of the ethical reactions. Besides these, we find, 
however, other considerations also, which offset the profit to be 
gained by the awakened effort, by a very appreciable detri- 
ment, hence exert a powerful retarding influence. We recall 
that neither of the two forces engaged in contest with each 
other, needs to be conscious. Often, the true motive is hidden 
behind a mask. Many times a real motive is known but only 
the most superficial one, for example, dislike of the vocation, 
while the deeper lying conditions (for example, erotic) are 
not even suspected. 

(a) the ethical motives 

He who has a poor opinion of the power of conscience will 
be taught a better one by the analytic method of consideration. 
Many maladies are nothing else than flight from a severe 



96 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ethical conflict, many others represent expiations for past short- 
comings or counter-reactions to a burning feeling of shame. 

1. The Warning and Impelling Conscience 

A melancholy girl who has become estranged from humanity 
and God suffers from difficulty of hearing. Two aurists, by 
placing the tuning fork on the skull, diagnosticate beginning 
degeneration of the auditory nerve. The syphilis of the father 
is visited on the daughter. Nevertheless, the degree of the 
degenerative process cannot explain that of the deafness ac- 
cording to the view of the otologist consulted by me. At the 
advice of the latter, I undertook an analysis, although the re- 
sult could not be permanent because of progressive nerve de- 
struction. Even in the first consultation, the defect in hearing 
yielded almost entirely. "While at the beginning, I had to 
shout loudly in order to be heard, at the end of the conver- 
sation, the patient understood fairly low speech, and heard the 
ticking of her light running watch. 

The causes of the hysterical deafness acting as reinforce- 
ment of the physiologically conditioned defect of hearing were 
as follows : 1. The father suffering from atrophy of the spinal 
cord often stormed about the whole night. The little daugh- 
ter, fleeing to the kitchen and weeping on the kitchen table, 
often sighed: "Would that I could hear nothing 'of the dis- 
turbance!" 2. The idolized mother became ill of cancer of 
the stomach. The daughter, sleeping in the same room, heard 
her groan and repeated the previous lament. 3. The good- 
for-nothing brother besieged her with begging letters. She 
wished to hear nothing. 4, Evil-intentioned persons accused 
her of improper relations with her fiance and other men while 
she knew herself innocent. 5. Her fiance, whom she did not 
love, occasionally spoke in harmless manner of his wish to have 
children. Since he did this the first time, she has not only 
suffered an anxiety attack every evening upon going to bed 
but she also feels herself strengthened in her wish: "May I 
hear nothing of the whole thing. ' ' 

The result lasted only two days. Why? On the evening 



ETHICAL CONFLICTS 97 

of the second day, the girl met a friend of her youth whom she 
had loved years before, without finding her love reciprocated. 
Now, he met her with great friendliness, sent her his photo- 
graph and acted in such a manner that she thought she per- 
ceived real affection. Immediately, there arose a severe ethical 
conflict: ''If he should propose marriage to me, do I belong 
to him whom I love or to the fiance whom I do not love, to 
whom I gave the marriage promise and who will be unhappy 
without me?" Behind this conflict was hidden, as I could 
state definitely from analogy with more thorough analyses, a 
whole network of unconscious motives which stretched back 
even to earliest childhood. She did not know how to solve the 
conflict of duties by clear deliberation. Therefore, she fled to 
hysteria which plainly realized in the deafness the wish to hear 
nothing, though of course, only in symbolical manner. Thus, 
as it were, she avoided the collision, or rather, the duty of a 
well considered moral decision, for he who cannot hear, also 
need not hear. 

It was easy to stop the new attempt at flight. The cure 
lasted a half year. Her spirits also improved splendidly, the 
trust in God arranged itself as consolation and encouragement. 
The anxiety had disappeared. But it remained for the girl to 
see that it was not right to continue an engagement merely to 
provide a means of subsistence. She fell out with her future 
sister-in-law and as a result, estranged herself inwardly still 
more from her fiance. Once more, she withdrew into the deaf- 
ness without, however, informing me. When she finally did 
come, she brought along insurmountable resistances so that I 
at once recognized that she was not in earnest in her will to be 
well. For she finally attained what she wished with a part of 
her being : the fiance, who had been very badly treated, broke 
off the engagement and again the ethical difficulties were 
solved.* The warning conscience obtained its purpose with 
the help of the unconscious. 

For the educator, those cases are especially important, in 

* Scarcely had the previously unloved fiance withdrawn than strong 
love appeared in the girl — which was naturally without vital roots. 



98 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

whicli the anticipatory conscience attains its aims by utilization 
of the unconscious. Meanwhile, one can observe how an in- 
tended wrong is frustrated by this trick. A boy has a rendez- 
vous, he forgets the hour in mysterious fashion, changes the 
place, misunderstands the arrangements, gets a nose bleed, 
leaves his pocket-book behind so that he cannot use the trolley 
and comes too late, etc. 

2. The Punishing Conscience 

In very many eases, we discover in the depths of the un- 
conscious, as an obstacle to the activity of instinct, the memory 
of past wrong. In this, we are not to think of thoughts and 
acts which offend against public morality but of offenses 
against the inner imperative, against the command of the in- 
dividual conscience. The young girl whose migraine in the 
temples went back to the death threat of the father spared her- 
self by her pain the accusation of hostile wishes against her 
father. The hallucination of the neighbor changed into an 
angel, probably rested on a reproach because of unallowed senti- 
ments. A new example may be added : 

A girl of twenty-three years suffered from melancholia, 
anxiety, neuralgias in the face and stomach. The feeling of 
guilt ruled the waking life and originally the uppermost 
stratum of her dreams. She dreamed, for example, of a black 
marble wall, on which there projected a white tablet bearing 
the crucifix. In this vision, she found consolation for her 
suffering from sins. Homosexual tendency speaks plainly 
from many dreams. The cautiously phrased question con- 
cerning sexual experiences was twice definitely denied so that 
I allowed myself to be deceived by the prudery and moral in- 
dignation. Not yet acquainted with the technical means for 
analyses of resistance, I did not know how to help myself when 
communication was suddenly shut off by inner compulsion. I 
dismissed her with religious encouragement and the advice not 
to give so much love to the woman friend but to support herself 
wdth love to God. The anxiety had already disappeared. 
After four months, the patient returned, driven by change for 



UNCONSCIOUS MOTIVES 99 

the worse in her condition and confessed now, of her own free 
will, although in a severe struggle against the speech prohibi- 
tion, a number of sexual transgressions with the woman friend 
and a dog. She considered the pains as punishment. Al- 
ways when the pain in the right cheek was analyzed, there was 
a thought of the friend and repression of a sexual longing di- 
rected toward her, while behind the hysterical neuralgia of the 
left half of the face, there regularly came into view the mother, 
who has been dead three years. In dream and waking life, 
there floated before her, hundreds of song-book verses and 
Bible texts to which she clung during the unbearably severe 
pains. In this, she occasionally omitted parts which might 
awaken unpleasant sexual memories, for example : 

"Glanz der Herrlichkeit, Brightness of glory, 

Du vor aller Zeit, Thou of eternity, 

Leben derer, die verloren, Life of the lost, 

Und ihr Licht dazu, And their light as well, 

Jesu, siisse Ruh'." Jesus, sweet rest. 

Here two stanzas are amalgamated. The first runs in whole : 

"Glanz der Herrlichkeit, Brightness of glory, 

Du vor aller Zeit Thou of eternity 

Zum Erloser uns geschenket Sent to be our Savior 

Und in unser Fleisch gesenket." And degraded to our flesh. 

This place which arouses sexual thoughts was repressed and 
in its place, a part of the previous stanza was quoted, which 
contains already the religious counter-reaction against the sup- 
pressed sexual stimulus. In general, the citations dreamed, or 
those occurring in the waking life, reflected in wonderful nicety 
the condition of the unconscious. 

Twenty days after the session described, the patient awoke 
in the night to these words : 

"Zum Erloser ims geschenket Sent to be our Savior 

Und in unser Herz gesenket And in our heart submerged 

In der Fiill' der Zeit, In the fulness of time, 

Glanz der Herrlichkeit," Brightness of glory. 



100 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

In this connection, there came into her mind the thought, 
this place belongs to song No. 228, verse 2 of the church song- 
book. Here, however, we read the words: 

"Keiner Gnade sind wir wert Of no grace are we worthy 

Doch hat er in seinem Wort Still in his word 

Klar und liebreich sich erklart. He hath clearly and kindly shown, 

Sehet nur, die Gnadenpforte Only look, the gate of mercy 

1st hier vollig aufgetan: Is here wide open: 

Jesus nimmt die Sunder an." Jesus takes the sins upon Him- 
self. 

I must remark in advance that we are dealing with a demon- 
stration of the transference. The patient, in the meantime, 
assimilated the homosexual repression in great part, revealed 
the most painful secrets and experienced a decided ameliora- 
tion of her suffering. The heterosexual instinctive tendency 
comes forward, the desires, which in reality apply to the 
brother and originally to the father, are projected onto the 
analyst. The speaking of the parts suppressed in the previous 
dream had lifted the earlier sexual undertone ("in unser 
Fleisch gesenket"^"to our flesh degraded") into con- 
sciousness. Now the dreamer allows the idea as if she were 
purified from improper phantasies. In relation to Jesus, she 
is also innocent. But now, the pastor lurks behind him. 
Hence, a new feeling of guilt which is to be allaj^ed by the 
reference to the stanza not quoted. This interpretation is not 
certain. 

The analysis continued with many and long interruptions 
for one and one quarter years and ended very satisfactorily. 
Taken abroad, the one who had suffered so severely, enjoyed 
complete health for a long time although her external life- 
relations went badly. Two months after her departure, she 
wrote : "In spite of external affliction, it is well with me and 
my trust in God has become unshakable." Upon awakening, 
she heard the child's song: "For should I not be joyous?" 
She was thus not really cured. Two years later, after all 
kinds of injuries had been encountered the melancholia re- 
turned. I had to refuse the analysis and send the patient to 



MASTURBATION 101 

the physician for nervous and mental diseases, who diagnosed, 
^besides hysteria, dementia prsecox; in a longer analytic treat- 
ment in a sanitarium, he improved the emotional conditions in 
some measure and also established the fact that there was little 
will to get well. The patient is incurable. 

This case, like many others, showed me that the conscious- 
ness of sins represents in no way, merely an atonement for past 
wrong doing, but also a satisfaction of the instinct which finds 
no gratification in reality. The still active instinct, the unper- 
mitted activity of which called forth the opposition of con- 
science, continues as best it may, in pathological neurotic 
symptoms, religious ideas of strong affect value or other per- 
formances which may be ethically very valuable. 

It is important to recognize that the consciousness of guilt 
is also in every case a product of repression. One of its most 
frequent sources, where it appears with great force and joined 
to anxiety, is masturbation. Bleuler says: "I know as yet 
only one source of the feeling of guilt, which one might call 
religious or transcendental: onanism or some similar sexual 
transgressions. "Where I could analyze such a feeling of guilt, 
I came upon sexual self-reproaches. ' ' * Jung says of the same 
phenomenon : ' ' Fundamentally, it is probably to be con- 
sidered as a partial sublimation of the infantile sexuality, that 
is to say, one which has miscarried. A certain amount of 
repressed libido (here, this word is equivalent to vrill or en- 
deavor) t represented by corresponding phantasies, is left un- 
attached and according to familiar examples, is converted into 
anxiety. ' ' $ The investigation of obsessional neurotic patients 
adds the information that very often, murder phantasies 
against the father and mother also call forth a pathological 
feeling of guilt, still we know that their disease never occurs 
without previous repressed infantile sexual activity. Whether 
these phantasies are the ultimate causes, as Freud assumes, or 

* Bleuler, tJber das relig. Schulbevnisstseln. Z. f. Religions-psycho- 
logie Vol. Ill (1909), p. 5. 

t Jung, D. Bedeutung des Vaterg f . d. Schicksal d. Einzelnen. 
Jahrbuch I, p. 155. 

t Jung, Z. f. Relpsyeh. Ill, p. 7. 



102 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

only the superficial occasion, brought about by a struggle 
against an inner imperative and not at all meant in earnest, 
as Jung believes, we must later seek to determine. 

It is interesting how the sexually conditioned feeling of 
guilt, now and then, creates repressions, which also lend great 
weight to self-accusations because of other transgressions. 
The boy whom we met as dumb, seeing dimly and "hanging 
on a thread, ' ' had stolen for six years from his mother without 
feeling remorse. Only the sexually conditioned feeling of 
guilt made the crime against property burning; thus it acted 
as setting free other moral reactions.* Another time, I ob- 
served that a boy of sixteen, who had masturbated for many 
years, made sexual reproaches against himself after he had 
committed a theft. 

Ordinarily, the malady breaks out first when the onanism, 
previously practiced without hesitation, is left off because of 
threatening warnings. 

A talented boy of seventeen years entered my room weeping, 
with the exclamation: "For God's sake, help me if there 
is still help !" He suffered from anxiety that his breasts had 
assumed female form, for which reason, he could no longer 
practice gymnastics and bathe (with others) and upon the 
military draft, he would be shamed to death. Not long before, 
he had listened to the lecture of a well-known itinerant preacher 
and at this, heard the foolish threat of gynacomasty. As a 
result of this, he stopped his bad habit. A short time later, 
the phobia appeared. Keassurance was easy. A year later, 
pathological sympathy broke out : The youth saw a poor girl 
fishing drift-wood from the sea. A comrade spoke harshly to 
her. The little girl looked up frightened and weeping, threw 
away the wood and hastened away over the stones with bare 
feet. This picture tormented my patient for many nights and 
kept him sleepless until morning. In explanation, it turned 
out that at that time, he had written a young girl a love letter 
but had not sent it because he considered it unfaithful to 
another girl. Behind the child whom he pitied, there thus 

*Prot. Monatsh. Vol. XIII, p. 11. 



PHOBIAS 103 

lurked the jilted friend, behind the brutal comrade, he him- 
self. 

A pupil of sixteen years suffered from pathological fear of 
cockroaches: A comrade had warned him against onanism 
and predicted severe physical injuries to him. In one of the 
next nights, an accident happened to the fellow in whom the 
remarks of the friend had created great fear and imposed 
abstinence from onanism: He awoke right after midnight 
from having smashed a cockroach on his chest. Trembling, 
he sprang out of bed and could not go back again until morn- 
ing. From that time, he had terrible anxiety for beetles. It 
happened that he thought he suddenly felt such an animal on 
his chest and in mortal dread, he would hasten avv^ay to undress 
himself. As cause, he found only the tape of his undercloth- 
ing. From that time on, he suffered a severe attack of anxiety 
upon the slightest occasion until he was completely healed three 
years later by an analytic session with me. I explained to him 
the basis of his phobia and impressed on him to say this ex- 
planation over when another attack of anxiety occurred. In 
the afternoon before the next session, he read in bed from a 
guide-book. Just after going to sleep, so he asserted, the book 
fell to the floor; he was terribly frightened but nevertheless 
immediately followed my advice, whereupon to his astonish- 
ment, the anxiety at once disappeared. Two days later, he 
traveled across the ocean, where, some months later, new 
anxiety with hallucinations broke out. I gave him repeated 
counsel by letter and soon received the report that he felt quite 
well again. The exact conditions of the cure are not known 
to me. 

Jung has recently abandoned his belief in the predominant 
sexual root of the religious feeling of guilt. Morbid feeling 
of sin, he finds in general, where a person transgresses an in- 
alienable life-demand peculiar to his nature. 

The sexual damming up is therewith not confirmed as cause 
of the feeling of guilt, it is merely put alongside other motives. 
Also, I believe that grievous offenses against the demands of 
conscience can excite anxiety phenomena, as Shakespeare, for 



104 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

example, shows in his Macbeth. But there, too, the statement 
holds that corresponding to such shocks to the personality, 
there are constantly disturbances in the eroticism or a specific 
functioning of the eroticism. In ambitious misdoing, the ef- 
fort to outdo the father may lie hidden, thus, an erotic motive, 
or in accordance with Freud's terminology, a sexual motive. 
There are also, however, feelings of guilt, which are to be 
understood simply as associative results of the infantile fear of 
punishment. 

3. The Public Morality. 

Not a few people allow more to be imposed upon themselves 
by the ridicule or contempt of others than by the inspirations 
of their own conscience. That which every educator has so 
often found in normal individuals, the analytic pedagogue 
finds confirmed in countless occurrences. Many a malady, 
many a reaction of the moral consciousness resting on repres- 
sion, goes back to the circumstance that a demand of instinct 
comes in conflict with a demand of culture or society. Where- 
upon, the individual very often absorbs the imperative of his 
environment into the expression of his conscience. Especially 
in the erotic field, is the power of public opinion plainly, 
enormously strong. Often, however, the morality of the en- 
vironment is contrary to the personal moral insight. This 
conflict cannot yet cause a neurosis, A neurosis is certainly 
many times, as it were, the spark which is kindled from the 
friction of the individual and social morality and causes a 
mighty conflagration, but only in case the individual recognizes 
the social morality as conforming to his own nature and sees 
his own inability to comply with it. Thus, the conflict must be 
an internal one, even though the voice of conscience is con- 
ditioned by the environment. To this extent, the social 
morality is also of importance. The existence of devastations 
resulting from such internal collisions precipitated from the 
outside, no keen observer can deny. In this regard, psycho- 
analysis must open the eyes of humanity and offer sword and 
trowel to the universally approaching longing for a higher 



ETHICS AND PSYCHOANALYSIS 105 

and deeper, freer and purer, cultural morality. Not that 
psychoanalysis can create the new values and landmarks ! But 
it can and will provide a mass of facts in the case which will 
put the emotional and intellectual forces in mighty agitation. 
And further, social ethics cannot do without respect for the 
forces of reality. Only a few sketches may be outlined here : 
The neurosis, frightful as it can be, is not the greatest evil. 
If the highest ethical values were to be purchased only at 
this price, then the neurosis would have to be endured. As 
a matter of fact, however, corresponding to the devastation 
of the healthy life, there is very often a reduction of the moral 
value and corresponding to the pseudomoralistic commands, a 
loss in mental and physical health. Against this state of af- 
fairs, the analytically trained educator and people's adviser 
must and will take the field. In no way is this a question of 
licentious self-indulgence. The analysis will show us more 
and more that the deeper claims of the spirit are of greater 
importance than the peripheral discharge of erotic tensions. 
Many a libertine, whom the repressions of his love-demands 
drives with pathological compulsion into foolish efforts, can be 
guided by the analysis to a socially useful life. Further, where 
sexual denial causes great disturbance, the analysis helps to 
find the true ground of the trouble in soluble internal conflicts 
and in persons, ethically normal, to bring about that healthful 
direction of instinct to higher ends which we will discuss under 
the title of sublimation. 

(b) the kepressing motives with exclusion op the 
question of their ethical dignity 

Very often, the neurosis bears witness to a moral refinement 
which struggles against the actual relations but cannot openly 
attain its purpose and therefore seeks its goal, wholly or in 
part at least, symbolically or indirectly, through some secret 
channel. Often, however, the repression simply goes toward 
sparing of pain and thus serves the pure pleasure-hunger. 
The repressed desire is then often of high moral tone, while the 



106 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

repressing desire corresponds to egoism or convenience, which 
takes refuge in the neurosis instead of energetically continuing 
the moral combat in the reality. Many an hysterical malady 
is a renunciation of moral deeds, a capitulation of the ethical 
consciousness in the face of the immoral forces of effortless 
pleasure-seeking, a cheap solution of serious ethical problems 
according to the principle of the least expenditure of effort. 

Many hysterical individuals and other victims of a refrac- 
tory unconscious spare themselves the great sacrifice of re- 
nunciation of certain conveniences and pleasures of life, those 
harsh denials and efforts which would be necessary to gain a 
free self-control, a healthy life conduct. 

A sufferer from anxiety neurosis was thrown into the water 
by an enemy and during the period of his ill health, drew a 
high indemnity which would be discontinued with the return 
of health or the ability to earn his living. He must therefore 
perform a great moral feat in order to escape the mastery of 
the repressed material. His satisfaction with indolence, free 
from work, interposed a powerful resistance to the analysis 
and maintained the repression as it existed when the malady 
began. Obviously, there lurk behind such repressions, still 
other, more powerful ones. In what direction, these are to be 
sought, will become evident later. 

Experience teaches that the repression becomes only so much 
the stronger when one would save himself a necessary decision, 
industriously drive out of mind a painful conflict or transform 
it into vain phantasies of which we will speak in another place. 
"He who observes himself attentively and without prejudice, 
knows that there dwells within him a being which would gladly 
conceal and gloss over everything difficult and questionable in 
life, in order to create for itself a free and easy path. ' ' * 
That which we would gladly diminish in conscious thought and 
volition, we must carry out in the unconscious with just so 
much the greater pains. It is the old story of the boy who will 
not pick up the horse-shoe but stoops for every cherry, but 
with this difference, that both the neurotic and the normal 

* Jung, Der Inhalt der Psychose. Leipzig & Vienna 1908, p. 25. 



FREUD AND JUNG 107 

individual must stoop and does not see the connection between 
cherry and money because of the repression. 

No strong emotion is conceivable which may not be repressed. 
Ambition, desire for money, lust and cruelty are absent as little 
as magnanimity, generosity and selfsacrifice in the catalogue 
of repressing factors. Vicious tendencies are active in the 
unconscious as well as the virtuous ones. Those impulses 
which have absorbed emotional energies from other sources, 
especially the erotic (see Chapter VII), exert most repressing 
force. The conflict between moral and immoral tendencies 
causes the greatest distraction. The moral man, like the im- 
moral man, is strong, while the strongest intelligence and will- 
power with a feeling of guilt or mistrust of self may easily 
fall to a state of weakness. 

Ethical and non-ethical motives for repression act in the 
sense of striving toward avoidance of discomfort. 

Recently, Jung lays great stress on the point that the con- 
flict leading to illness lies in the present (Jahrbuch V, 382) 
and proceeds chiefly from the circumstance that the person 
shrinks from a necessary task. "When the libido (the will) 
shrinks from a necessary task, this happens from those general 
human reasons of convenience, which are developed to very 
high degree not only in the child but also in primitive man 
and in animals. The primitive indolence and convenience is 
the first opposing influence against efforts at adaptation" 
(Jahrbuch V, 422). Even earlier, Freud had emphasized that 
the illness occurs when there is denied to the individual, as 
result of external obstacles or internal deficiency in adapta- 
tion, the gratification of his erotic needs, (tjber Psycho- 
analyse, page 54). Therein, Freud has also properly esti- 
mated the present- (= actual) conflict, at the same time, 
however, avoiding a one-sidedness of which Jung is guilty. It 
will not do to explain all neuroses on a basis of convenience, 
and only arbitrarily can one make deficiency in capacity for 
adaptation answerable for them. We have already mentioned 
under appeal to Freud a number of maladies which arose from 
the circumstance that a person gave up his primitive or im- 



108 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

moral conduct and went over to higher morality (94). Fur- 
ther, we know highly energetic people who suddenly give up 
in an effort and break down ; the task would be easy if inhibi- 
tions had not been already present. If it is a matter of a 
shocking event, however, a deprivation or abstinence, the per- 
ception of grievous guilt or similar experiences, one cannot 
charge the illness entirely to the account of convenience, where 
simply the strength for normal reception and reaction to the 
impression is lacking. "When a bullet perforates a person, 
shall we say: The body possessed too little capacity for 
adaptation to the bullet? The formulations of Freud, which 
anticipate the correct part of Jung's thoughts, deserve there- 
fore the preference. Only, one must also include among the 
erotic needs, the denial of which makes the individual ill, the 
moral demands, which Freud does. 

Finally, it may be pointed out here, that healthy and sick 
are exposed to exactly the same motives for repression. "We 
discover in the insane, not something new and unkno\\Ti, but 
the substratum of our own being, the mother of the problems 
of life, on which we are all engaged." * 



3. The Relation of the Exteknal and Internal 
Factors in Repression 

The repression never proceeds from purely external or in- 
ternal conditions but always from a disagreement of inner 
strivings, whether these have been excited by external or in- 
ternal causes. In this disagreement, the internal forces must 
be recognized as the incomparably stronger ones. In mental 
equilibrium, in suitable utilization of the instincts and erotic 
demands, it should be noticed again that no external calamity, 
no stress of life conditions, can bring about a serious repression. 
Conversely, comparatively minor misfortune may result in the 
greatest disturbances when the mind is torn by grievous con- 
flict. Thus, the external calamity is a provocative agent, the 

*Same, p. 26. 



ANXIETY NEUROSIS 109 

light pressure on the electric button which shatters a mighty- 
mass of rock. 

A fourteen year old pupil jumps from the second story 
because he had a conflict with the teacher and received a bad 
report. The public gave itself up to spiteful condemnation of 
the teacher who ' 'drove the poor victim to death, ' ' In reality, 
the youth has suffered unspeakably for years from severe re- 
pressions caused by the brutality of his father; the teacher 
merely did his duty.* 

A teacher became ill with a severe anxiety neurosis because 
he could find no suitable dwelling and was disturbed by the 
noise in front of his house. He made written plans for de- 
parting from life. His wife discovered the writing and became 
so excited that she had to be confined in an insane asylum. 
Consideration for the children determined the father to save 
himself. He begged me to intercede spiritually for him. As 
an enthusiastic follower of Dubois, at the time, I sought by 
consoling and explaining to awaken new courage for life, and 
after some weeks, experienced a satisfactory result which 
strengthened my faith in the excellence of the method. 
Puzzled by later bad results, I investigated whether other 
influences had coincided with my ministrations, and sure 
enough, found that at that time an experienced physician had 
advised giving up coitus interruptus in favor of coitus con- 
domatus and thereby established satisfactory sexual inter- 
course. I am convinced that the decisive factors in the cure 
belonged both to the physician and the pastor. After the 
treatment, the teacher found his dwelling very nice and de- 
clined to remove to a home offered him which he had long 
desired. 

I defend the primacy of the inner life, not only because in 
ungoverned instinctive relations, an adaptation to the world 
is difficult of attainment, but also because the unsaved person 
unconsciously so fashions reality as to correspond to his mental 
complications and thereby often unfortunately brings about 

* Compare the interesting Ist Diskussion der Wiener psychoan. 
Vereinigung iiber den Selbtsmord. Bergmann, Wiesbaden, 1910. 



110 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

the necessity which renders the situations more severe. By- 
disclosing this state of affairs, psychoanalysis has given us the 
key to the comprehension of countless acts otherwise incom- 
prehensible. 

From this standpoint, the psychology of unlucky persons 
Pbecomes clearer to us. It can lead us to all kinds of uncon- 
scious motives and wishes which misfortune serves. When a 
boy is stricken with severe headache, always just at the time 
when he has to eat some distasteful food or work on a hated 
essay subject, that is certainly not intentional but still willed, 
even though willed unconsciously.* Thus, misfortune and 
secret tendencies often coincide. 

A nervous boy of fifteen years had some misfortune every 
few days. Now he would fall from the planks, the wide open- 
ing between which, he wished to jump over, and be found 
lying with a broken leg, now he would receive a severe bodily 
injury while sliding down hill. He always kept his family in 
excitement. The analysis revealed loss of interest in life : the 
boy constantly carried a loaded revolver on his person and 
wanted to kill himself but was prevented by religious scruples. 
His misfortunes are disguised attempts at suicide and demands 
for affection. 

Another youth of sixteen years, who for years seems to have 
striven for the record as an unlucky fellow, now falling from a 
wagon upon his head, now being struck by a mattock, etc., 
suffers from a painful hysterical point of pressure on the skull 
wall. The analysis revealed the phantasy, held for years, that 
he would crush his skull in at that point by a blow from a 
hammer. Since the analysis of these symptoms, neither boy 
has suffered from similar trouble. 

Even with individuals who are in full health, the external 
misfortune often corresponds to an unconscious purpose. 
Much oftener than one would surmise, the person is situated 
as he has unconsciously prayed to be. 

An otherwise exemplary young man disagrees with all his 
superiors and other important personalities, thereby endanger- 

* Compare the examples on page 98. 



REPRESSING AND REPRESSED 111 

ing his career which he had begun brilliantly. The analysis 
of his waking phantasies solved the riddle: Frequently, he 
runs up and down his room with clenched fists, contends with 
threatening voice against an imaginary enemy, as a rule, his 
superiors. From his dreams, however, it is seen with certainty 
that it is really his father who is meant, since the latter and the 
superior frequently appear as a composite figure. Thus, the 
pugnacious man wishes to vent on other objects the pleasure 
of his successful strife against his father, he wishes to realize 
now the hot, reckless, childish wishes, by which useless conduct 
he spoils his finest chances. The analysis saved him also. 

The unconscious possesses a really refined virtuosity for mold- 
ing people according to its tendencies. The husband, who has 
remained attached to his mother and lived in strife with her, 
knows how to bring a differently tempered wife unknowingly 
to the point where she will treat him as his mother did. So 
long as this fixation, which will be discussed later, remains in 
force, all good intentions are in vain. 

4. The Relation Between Repressing and Repressed 

Factors 

Where two interests hostile to each other exist, a reciprocal 
action takes place, in which every active force will act as a 
repressing one. Often, one will be victorious for a long time, 
then the other. The oscillation can last for a whole lifetime. 

A girl of twenty-two years now loved her fiance passion- 
ately, now to her sorrow, found her affection gone. Especially 
striking to her was the circumstance that she loved him in his 
absence; as soon as she sees him alight from the car, she be- 
comes cold, to become aglow again as soon as he has taken his 
train. From her dreams, it is evident that she thinks to find 
her father again in her lover and unconsciously confuses the 
two men. The father was the object of her longing so long as 
he stayed at a distance but repelled her by his cold behavior 
when he had returned. She hated and loved him simultan- 
eously. Now love, now hate gained the upper hand, but the 
latter did not present itself openly in consciousness. The in- 



112 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ternal dissension was reflected in obsessional anxiety ideas. 
One day, she was stricken with anxiety which lasted two weeks 
until the analysis, that she would have a hemorrhage. Shortly 
before, she had visited a "beautiful," intelligent, lovable 
friend who was ill of pulmonary disease, who, because of the 
advanced stage of her disease, had broken her engagement. 
My patient suffered from the circumstance that her mother, 
when she was a child of six or seven years, had spoken of her 
in the presence of some ladies, as being of small intelligence, 
while she is justly proud of her mental endowment. She 
would like to be pretty and is so in fact, but she does not believe 
it because at home she was always depreciated. In all direc- 
tions, she wishes to identify herself with the friend whom she 
recognizes as beautiful, particularly in the erotic situation as 
well. The obsession disappeared soon after her enlightenment. 
The anxiety over a hemorrhage showed that strong erotic 
longing was pent up. The changing of emotions ceased after 
the overcoming of other, easily elucidated (compensatory) 
obsessions (obsessional ideas), phobias (anxiety conditions) * 
and hallucinations, when the girl had become clearly conscious 
of her attitude toward her father and his substitute, the fiance. 
The young bride-to-be perceived how much she had to gain, 
how much to lose, and ended the see-saw of repression forces 
by real and lasting love suitable to the hardship and happiness 
of married life. 

Often, one sees how the repressed material takes possession 
of consciousness until the relation changes again. In this, 
repressing and repressed exchange roles each time. 

Both go back ultimately to elementary instincts. Still, in 
general, this connection with the demands of nature is more 
direct in the repressed, and further, it may be more easily 
demonstrated here. 

* The psychoanalyst distinguishes between fear and anxiety. With 
the former, the reason and object are kno\vn, and there is a normal 
relation between occasion and reaction, with anxiety, on the other 
hand, either no reason at all or an insufficient one is given. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE INFANTILE ROOTS OF THE REPRESSION 
IN DETAIL 

1. HiSTOEICAD 

''The unconscious is the infantile and that particular part 
of a person which has been separated from the personality at 
that time and hence has been repressed. " * In this formula, 
Freud once expressed his provisional judgment concerning the 
origin and nature of the subconscious which is important for 
us in this connection. Never has a psychologist ascribed to the 
first years of childhood, not merely to the hereditary endow- 
ment, so great an importance for the whole future conduct in 
life, as the father of psychoanalysis. Not only the dreams and 
ordinary performances of every-day life but also the highest 
achievements of art and poetry — we might add in his sense: 
also of morality and religion are dependent in high degree 
upon the impressions of childhood and outlined in these. 
Everywhere, he seeks to show infantile sources ; even the thou- 
sandfold needs of the neuroses and psychoses, as well as the 
formation of character, take their origin in earliest child life 
and here receive their guiding impulses. As the tree has to 
suffer for a lifetime, for injuries done to it when just pushing 
its shoot above the ground, so also the human mind. And 
more: All neurotic troubles, so far as they proceed from 
mental causes, have an infantile previous history, without 
which they could not have come into existence. 

From the medical side, a great objection was raised to this 
estimation of childhood and childhood impressions. They 
overwhelmed their Viennese colleague with angry accusation, 

* Freud, Bemerkungen fiber einen Fall von Zwangsneurose. Jahrb. I, 
373. 

113 



114. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

caricaturing irony, malicious jest, and did so mucli in that kind 
of polemics that they thought argument and actual observa- 
tions could be dispensed with as entirely superfluous. Other 
physicians took a calm and expectant attitude toward Freud's 
announcements. 
* To the pedagogue, Freud's accentuation of the first years of 
life may seem less startling. At least, he will lend an attentive 
ear with the greatest earnestness to the investigator, who, on 
a basis of substantial works in his own field, discovers valuable 
springs which take their origin in the domain of education. If 
psychoanalysis is correct, then there beckon to the pedagogue, 
perspectives such as scarcely one of its official representatives 
would dare to dream of. The art of education appears as 
savior in the constantly swelling flood of nervous maladies, it 
gains a large influence in politics, morals and religion, it even 
plays an important role in the genesis of artistic genius. 
Guarding and directing, as giver of the law and of the saving 
gospel, pedagogic activity rules over humanity, invested with 
a power little dreamed of, if the psychoanalysis of Freud is 
correct. 

These promises, to the pronunciation of which, Freud, in 
his modest, matter-of-fact manner, would never allow himself 
to be transported, sound so exuberant that we critical peda- 
gogues need to be admonished to prudent foresight. But if 
the beautiful things which are inferred as consequences of the 
analytic investigation w^ere facts, what educator who is still 
ready to learn something, would deny a priori the great new 
resultant possibilities? Of course, he who dislikes something 
new and great because it explains a bit of the things previously 
done as incomplete and erroneous, will also be compelled to 
declare war on Freud as an abominable disturber of the peace. 

(a) the importance of infantile impressions in general 

It is worthy of note that the psychoanalytic investigation 
came upon the importance of the events of childhood entirely 
by following its own paths. Every dream, which one had 



IMPRESSIONS OF CHILDHOOD 115 

occasion to analyze to its profoundest depths, every neurotic 
symptom which was followed back to its hidden source, dis- 
closed a bit of the childlife of the first four years.* Freud 
came to the conjecture "that the impressions of earliest child- 
hood (the prehistoric period, about to the end of the fourth 
year) in and for themselves, perhaps without depending upon 
their content, longed for reproduction, and that the repetition 
is a wishf ulfillment. ' ' t 

Only afterwards was attention called in analytical circles 
to the fact that sharp-sighted students of human nature had 
already given expression to these facts, of course, more with the 
help of an instinctive clairvoyance than on a basis of scientific 
investigation. I will give the words of one of the greatest 
students of the mind among the poets, Friedrich Hebbel: 
"When one sees himself compelled to speak concerning things 
which will be quite unintelligible to any one without inner ex- 
perience, one cannot guard enough against misinterpretations. 
. . . Even men of insight themselves do not cease to quarrel 
with the poet over the choice of his material and thereby show 
that they always consider the work, the first stage of which, 
the conception, lies deep under consciousness and sometimes 
goes back to the dimmest distances of childhood, as a mere 
product of work, even though of noble kind, and that they 
attribute in the mental birth an arbitrariness which they would 
certainly not assign to the physical birth, attachment of which 
to nature is of course plainly visible. One may scold the small 
artisan when he brings something which does not please the 
lord and master ; the poet, on the other hand, one must excuse, 
when all goes not well, he had no choice, not once does he have 
the choice whether he will produce a work or not, for once this 
has become alive, it may not be redigested, it may not be again 
changed into blood, but must appear in free independence and 
a suppressed or blocked mental delivery can cause destruction 
just as well as an abnormal physical delivery, whether in death 

* Zur ^tiologie der Hysterie. Kl. Schriften I, p. 171. 
•j- Traumdeutung, 3rd ed. p. 177. 



116 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

or in insanity. One recalls Goethe's youthful companion, 
Lenz, also Holderlin and Grabbe." * 

I could not refrain from repeating in detail these words of 
farseeing wisdom which anticipate some of the chief thoughts 
of psychoanalysis. That in Hebbel's own creations, the traces 
of childhood may be discerned, has been shown already by Kuh t 
in his excellent biography. 

That other mortals, too, remain under the sway of the influ- 
ences of childhood for their whole lifetimes, the psychoanalysts 
have not discovered first. Hammer rightly says : 

"Touch not the dream of the childrea 
When a pleasure caresses them: 
Their grief hurts them not less 
Than thine hurts thee! 
Many an old man 
Whose heart no longer glows, 
Bears in his face a wrinkle 
Which Out of his childhood came." $ 

Especially in the hours of stress, does the childhood re- 
awaken, the mind harks back to its first Garden of Eden and 
calls longingly for the consoling figures of that age, inspires 
them with new life, becomes again just a child to be coddled 
and led about, in order to reappear with new energy in the 
stern reality. K. F. Meyer expresses this in his song "Hep- 
eros": 

"Over the dark and fur-clad hills 

Shone on me in my evening walk 

A love I feel go down 

In thy setting, — 

Unnoticed hast thou come 
. From the pale air begim to glow. 

Thus with unheard steps 

*Hebbel, Vorwort zur "Maria Magdalena" (1844). Samtl. Werke, 
herausg. v. Bartels, Stuttgart und Leipzig, p. 822. 0. Rank, Das 
Inzest-Motiv, p. 125. 

t E. Kuh. Biographic Friedrich Hebbels, Vienna and Leipzig, 1907, 
Vol. II, p. 74 ff. (Maria Magdalena). 

t Cited by Stekel, Zbl. Ill, p. 52, 



FIXATION OF INSTINCT 117 

Through the dusk agliding 

Came the mother, who laid 

On my shoulder, her firm hand 

So that I could not conceal from her 

What I suffer, what torments me. 

And why without complaint 

I am gnawed and consvimed. 

And I am silent, and in tears 

Let her comfort me. 

Has she a dwelling, now, the gracious one, 

There in thy fields of light? 

Of thy rays, I drink up each 

Through the darkness I hear speaking, 

— And it seems to me as if 

I feel the cool hand on my shoulder, — 

Speak, not of sweet beatitudes. 

Only of the memories of old times! 

Now she understands without more telling 

Who I am in heart's reality. 

This and that must she scold 

Other things leaves she contented 

And she means, so I conclude, 

Be satisfied yourself. 

Evening star, hasten quickly 

Let her visit with her child! 

Twinkling friendly, you go down . . . 

Mother, Mother, come again!" 

Even if we were not acquainted with Sadger 's valuable, tact- 
ful and scientific monograph,* we would detect in these verses, 
the grief of the unhappy poet, whom the fixation upon the 
mother long held under the yoke of unproductive dreamer, 
whom the recognition withheld by the mother once thrust into 
mental darkness. Similar examples from the mouths of poets 
might be multiplied indefinitely. Why, precisely in inhibi- 
tions, the flight into the infantile becomes so striking, we shall 
see later. 

In order to define the share of the infantile more exactly, 
we turn now to the psychoanalytic investigation. After Freud 

* Sadger, Konrad Ferdinand Meyer, eine pathographisch-biographische 
Studie. Wiesbaden 1908. Adolf Frey mentions infantile impressions 
in the works of the poet, C. F. Meyer. Stuttgart, 1900, p. 36, 



118 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

had shown the processes of the childlife to be the earliest de- 
terminants of disease, he found early infantile remnants in 
the dreams. He succeeded, indeed, in discovering in dreams, 
entirely forgotten impressions from the earliest years of life 
and in determining the correctness of these by external sub- 
stantiation.* He found, to his astonishment, "in the dream, 
the child with its impulses coming to life. ' ' t For him, the 
dream is "the substitute for the infantile scenes changed by 
transference to recent material. ' ' % What he says concern- 
ing the significance of sexuality as the nourishing soil of the 
higher mental activity (besides the ego instincts) must also 
be considered here, for he traces back the achievements named, 
to the early infantile sexuality. He finds the poetic endeavor 
outlined in childish play and phantasy play.|| It reflects the 
deepest wish of the poet. "A phantasy floats as it were, among 
three periods of time, the three temporal possibilities of our 
imagination. The mental work joins an actual impression, an 
occasion in the present which was in a position to awaken one 
of the greatest wishes of the person, from there, it falls back 
upon the memory of an earlier, usually infantile experience, 
in which, that wish was fulfilled and creates now a situation 
related to the future, which situation is represented as the ful- 
fillment of that wish, thus the daydream or phantasy. "If In 
the same manner, the poem comes into existence, § poem and 
daydream are continuation and substitute for the onetime 
juvenile play. Myths are distorted wish-phantasies of whole 
nations, the secular dreams of young humanity.** 

In the life of Leonardo da Vinci, Freud sought to show tt 
how the whole career and life-work of a great master was car- 
ried out under the influence of juvenile sexual affairs. Leon- 

* Traumdeutung, 3rd ed. p. 137 fF. 
t P. 139. 
t P. 365 f. 

II Freud, Der Dichter und das Phantasieren. Kl. Schriften II, pp. 
197-206. 
If P. 201. 
§P. 205. 
**P. 205. 
•j-f Freud, Eine Kindheitserinnerimg des Leonardo da Vinci, 1910. 



LEONARDO DA VINCI 119 

ardo's poverty in love,* his obsessional compulsion to investi- 
gation, which thwarted the artistic endeavors,! the origin and 
content of certain paintings, his ideal homosexuality,! are ex- 
plained by the aid of individual and folk psychological parallels 
as products of a phantasy which absorbed the great artist in his 
cradle days : He wishes to remember that at that time, a vul- 
ture came to him, opened his mouth with its tail and struck his 
lips many times. According to Egyptian and Church mythol- 
ogy, the vulture was the bird which reproduced only in female 
forms, fructified by the wind. Leonardo, an illegitimate child, 
was taken from his mother when five years old. These relations 
are reflected in the phantasy, yes, in the whole life and activity 
of the artist. One can only properly judge this surmise of 
Freud's if one has become certain of the interpretations of 
dreams. What is especially important for us now is this: 
Where formerly, one spoke of inborn tendencies, and because 
of the precarious position of the hereditary theory, had to re- 
nounce individual explanation, Freud promises to carry the 
causal necessity a few important steps further and prove par- 
tially directable experiences to be the powers of fate. Still, he 
too, fully recognizes the ultimate power of the constitution. 

The keen statements of Freud have been tested and sub- 
stantiated by numerous analysts. Nevertheless, since I must 
assume that these witnesses are objected to, it should be re- 
membered in this connection that almost every good descrip- 
tion of life and analysis of artistic works, long ago pointed to 
the infantile remnants. I mention, for example, the biogra- 
phies of Gottfried Keller and Leo Tolstoi. 

That early dispositional attitudes were of great influence 
for the shaping of the life, has been shown us by psychoana- 
lytic means in the lives of many artists : Sadger encountered 
much ill-will in 1 908 when he traced back the delayed develop- 
ment and mental disease of Ferdinand Meyer to an early fixa- 
tion upon the mother. His method of consideration was even 

*P. 12. 
fP. 13. 
fP. 34. 



120 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

at that time too new. Stekel too aroused much hostility when 
he brought Grillparzer 's "Der Traum, ein Leben" (The 
Dream, a life) into connection with infantile family impres- 
sions.* It is easy to see that the poet's typical motive of the 
man standing between two women expresses his own erotic 
attitude toward his "eternal bride" and his sister. Further, 
the enormous influence of the mother is not difficult to discern : 
Just one trait shows enough: The poet, when twenty-eight 
years old, after the suicide of his mother, broke off the thread 
of his poetic production, in the midst of the composition of 
the "Golden Fleece," to take it up again only later when he 
played the G-Moll-Symphony of Mozart with a mother-sub- 
stitute (Karoline Pichler) this being the last composition which 
he had played, four-handed, with his mother before her tragic 
end.f That early infantilism is exhibited here, is not proven. 
New materials were provided by Sadger in his monographs 
on Kleist % and Lenau,|| I myself pointed out in the gro- 
tesquely colored piety of the Graf von Zinzendorf, plain after- 
effects of the first years of childhood.lT Max Graf furnished 
successful proof, in the eyes of anyone who does analytic work, 
of the infantile origin of the favorite theme of Richard Wag- 
ner: The woman standing between two men, who tears her- 
self free from the first, the husband or fiance, and throws her- 
self into the arms of the second. § In Chapter XII, section 10, 
we shall come to speak of this and likewise of the very scholarly 
and sharpsighted investigations of Otto Rank; 

(b) the content of the infantile repressions 

When we ask concerning the content of the infantile roots 
buried in the unconscious, we find that they are exactly the 

* Stekel, Dichtung und Neurose. Bausteine zur Psychologie des 
Kunstlers u. des Kunstwerkes. Wiesbaden, 1909. 

t K. Macke is in error when he explains the origin of the poet from 
the spirit of music. Biogr. Einleitung zu Grillparzers Werken, XI. 

t J. Sadger, Heinrich von Kleist, Wiesbaden, 1909. 

II J. Sadger, Aus d. Liebesleben Nicolaus I.enaus. 1909. 

f O. Pfister, Die Frommigkeit des Grafen L. v. Zinzendorf, 1910. 

§ Max Graf, Richard Wagner im "fliegenden Hollander," Leipzig and 
Vienna, 1911. 



INFANTILE IMPRESSIONS 121 

same ones which we encountered as the proximate motives of 
repressions in adults, only undeveloped, corresponding to the 
age of childhood. It is our task to determine as well as pos- 
sible from the analytic materials, the nature of the things which 
were once conscious and then repressed, before we present our 
own observations to the reader's consideration. Freud's asser- 
tion that sexual experiences and phantasies of the first years 
of life determine very strongly the later mental tendency, with 
its normal and abnormal expressions, met violent opposition. 
Even scholars who had studied the sexual life extensively and 
without prudery, like August Forel, flatly denied a sexual life 
in the first years of life. So experienced an analyst as Jung 
thinks that the libido, the desire, may be invested in the stage 
of childhood, at first exclusively in the form of the hunger in- 
stinct. ' ' The ultimate, and in its functional significance, pre- 
dominating field of application (of libido) is sexuality, which 
seems at first to be extraordinarily attached to the nutrition 
function. " * Of incest, the child, on account of his undevel- 
oped sexuality, is not yet capable. f The deepest foundation 
of the socalled incestuous desire runs not to cohabitation but 
to the wish for the protection enjoyed in the mother's womb 
and for rebirth.| 

We will first question the students of minds who are free 
from pretended infection with the mental epidemic of analysis. 
It has been shown that sensual childish wishes directed toward 
the parents, which are of undisputable erotic nature, were 
known and described by many poets. Stendhal confesses: 
'*I was always in love with my mother. I wished always to 
kiss my mother and wished there were no clothes. I detested 
my father when he came to us and interrupted our kisses. I 
wished to give them to her always on the breast. One should 
deign to realize that I lost her when I was scarcely seven years 
old." Baudelaire testifies: "What does the child love so 
passionately in his mother, his nurse, his twin sister? Is it 

* Jung, Wandlungen. und Symbole der Libido, Jahrbuch IV, p. 180. 
t P. 279. 
$P. 267, 



122 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

simply the being who nourishes, combs, washes and rocks him ? 
It is also the tenderness and sensual delight." Kosegger re- 
marks : "I admit indeed that in the love between mother and 
son there exists a bit of the sexual — unconscious of course. 
A mother loves her son quite differently from her daughter. ' ' * 
Ganghofer reports a slight attack of anxiety which he under- 
went in his fourth year in an erotic experience : "A girl of 
eighteen years stepped over the little fellow as he lay in bed. ' ' t 

Such confessions do not prove the universality of such emo- 
tions. The extensive material on which Freud based his well- 
known thesis of the importance of the infantile sexuality, is 
not published. The only two detailed analyses of children 
which our literature affords, those of Freud and Jung, contain 
extremely important material but they do not prove Freud's 
thesis that all eroticism is derived from sexual pleasure or is 
built on the pleasure of taking nourishment, as Jung has re- 
cently assumed. Maeder speaks of two types of women who 
may be differentiated even in the third and fourth years of 
life: the mother and the coquette.| But he does not publish 
the analytic material. 

One cannot be surprised that well-meaning but superficial 
critics cannot make anything out of the important theory of 
infantile sexuality. 

2. Personal Observations 

(a) clear sexual roots 

A sixteen year old pupil suffers, among other things, from 
anxiety that his nose (otherwise quite normal) excites un- 
pleasant comment. Only by strong self-control, can he go 
upon the street and he carefully conceals the anxiety-provoking 
member with his hand. The anxiety had appeared very early : 
At ten months, it broke out on various occasions, for example, 
upon the sound of rattling wagons, then in the second year, 

* From Rank, Inzest-Motiv, 32 f. 

t Zbl. I, p. 165 f. 

t uber zwei Frauentypen. Zbl. I, pp. 573-582, 



ANXIETY PHENOMENA 123 

it concentrated itself upon pigeons and children who could 
not yet walk and were just learning, as well as on snails. For 
years, a little dwarf persecuted the youngster in dreams. I 
had him first describe more exactly the anxiety over pigeons 
and heard with astonishment: "I was not afraid of being 
bitten by the doves but was anxious lest I be touched by the 
thin skin on the feet.'"' The children excited anxiety because 
their little legs represented sexual symbolism. It required 
no special sharp-sightedness to assert with much certainty the 
cause of the phobia. The little dwarf who constantly per- 
secuted him, was what is called in popular speech, "the little 
man, ' ' which is rendered still plainer by the cowl of the dwarf. 
The half stiff legs of little children, as well as the snails, must 
refer to the same object. The skin on the legs obviously refers 
to the prepuce ; the anxiety over touching it, corresponds, like 
every anxiety, to a repressed wish. That the child, a little over 
a year old, had noticed the foreskin, must be explained on the 
ground of special irritation, and likewise the anxiety at ten 
months of age. I therefore explained to the astonished father 
that his son was suffering from the after-affects of a phimosis- 
operation undergone before the tenth month and probably 
also from later threats of castration. My conjecture was en- 
tirely confirmed. At seven years, and probably earlier, the 
boy 's mother had threatened him with amputation of the penis 
because he was masturbating. More recent occasion for the 
anxiety regarding the nose came from the harmless remark of a 
comrade that he, our patient, had a potato nose. Urged to 
think clearly of the nose and give all his associations, he said : 
"The nose is thick, round, sticking out in front." That the 
feeling of shame applied to an organ with similar character- 
istics, which had played an ominous role in his earliest child- 
hood, he saw at once. 

A little lad of nine years become ill with twitchings of the 
arms. I refrained from analysis and sent him to an elderly 
neurologist with the report that the lad had spread the report 
among his fellow students that his mother practiced fellatio 
with him, while the woman accused, asserted that she had taken 



124 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

into lier mouth only the nipples of her child. I reported 
further that the boy wished constantly and impatiently to go 
to his mother in bed and exhibited erections in the bath. The 
-physician answered that we were dealing with "epileptoid at- 
tacks" which certainly have iiothing to do with sexuality. To 
my second inquiry if it might not be hysteria, I received an 
angry tirade against Freud's psychoanalysis, while his own 
psychoanalysis, which he had practiced for twenty years, was 
extolled, and also the concession that only after a week's 
observation could it be determined whether hysteria or epilepsy 
were present. Naturally, I did not allow myself to be easily 
diverted in this particular case from my pedagogic and pas- 
toral rights because a little conflict with a physician sprang 
from my analytic activity; I impressed on the mother, firmly 
though with considerate restraint, the inordinate desire of her 
little son. The boy recovered at once from his attacks while the 
jealous neurologist, with his painful prudery and materialistic 
method of consideration, in spite of electrical apparatus and 
dietetic treatment, would probably have helped neither the 
mental nor physical health of the child. The last report I 
received concerning the boy was five years after the conversa- 
tion ; he had remained well during that time. 

A merchant aged thirty-three, married for one year, suffered 
from psychic impotence, which could not be cured by the phy- 
sician consulted. The family life threatened to be disrupted 
since the wife had an unbounded longing for children and 
told her husband that she could no longer love him since she 
felt herself deceived by him. It turned out that his sexuality 
was entirely infantile : he loved to cling to his wife but other- 
wise behaved purely passively. Often, he wished to carry his 
wife on his back. If, after great exertion, a premature ejacu- 
lation occurred, he felt pain in his penis. Although he had 
never masturbated peripherally, he accused himself of onan- 
ism. Justly, for the phantasies to which he had given himself 
were extraordinarily loaded with emotion. 

The causes were at once revealed by simple questioning: 
When three years old, my patient was taken into bed by the 



SEXUAL ROOTS OF NEUROSES 125 

maid and pressed ardently against her. When seven years 
old, he carried a little girl on his back. The maid called him 
a nasty fellow and threatened to tell his mother, whereupon, 
the youngster got the impression that he had done something 
terribly improper, which belief he powerfully repressed into 
his unconscious. The wish, to carry his wife on his back, is 
accordingly clear to us ; naturally, in the presence of his wife, 
he did not recall the childhood experience. A sanctimonious 
young man, pupil of an extreme theological institute, practiced 
fellatio with him, during which the pain in his penis at the 
time of ejaculation first made its appearance. More important 
than all this was the fact that he once surprised his mother 
undressed. From his dreams, strong homosexual tendency 
was evident. In the waking state the patient showed only a 
strong desire to see bathing boys or the sturdy calves of young 
peasants. After this unsuitable utilization of instinct had 
been recognized and inhibited, normal potency appeared, his 
wife's love returned and soon a strapping child crowned the 
newly concluded union. 

The example seems to me especially instructive for our in- 
vestigation in one point. One can ask whether the cuddling 
of the three year old child was already of a sexual nature or 
whether pleasant experiences of an earlier period, memories 
of the taking of nourishment besides the body warmth now felt, 
created the pleasure, which then came to repression. But 
that the boy perceived clear sexual innervations when he car- 
ried the little girl, I consider excluded. Almost all boys have 
experienced similar things. But the prudish and brutal maid 
exaggerated the bagatelle into a grievous sexual trauma, she 
forced the harmless experience into the center of the sexual 
life, just as unskilled educators, by false threats concerning 
masturbation, help to overaccentuate it and strengthen its in- 
juriousness. 

I could easily give from my records a very long series of 
further examples to prove a sexual root for neurotic processes. 
When one sees a well educated, upright girl, of socalled good 
family, one at first considers it unthinkable that evil things 



UG THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

could have taken place even under the protection of the paren- 
tal roof and the parents are usually the last persons to believe 
it. But the stubborn facts cannot be eliminated from the 
world by well meaning wishes. 

(b) erotic sources 

A lad of eighteen years suffers from melancholia, pains in 
his arm which often make writing impossible, further, from 
violent cramps in the thigh and especially from erotic obses- 
sions. He falls in violent love with a number of girls, only to 
very soon lose his love instantly if he receives favor. To 
extremes, he does not allow it to come. Still he is forthwith 
irresistibly driven to another beauty, no matter how great re- 
proaches he makes against himself because of his perfidious 
conduct. The arm trouble broke out when he had to confess 
to his father a crime against property and a foul love story 
tormented him. The pains in the leg formed a defensive 
measure against new love affairs. The beginning Don Juan- 
ism refers to the mother : she suffered from his third year until 
her death, for a period of seven years, from pulmonary tuber- 
culosis and had to reside in various sanatoriums and many 
health resorts. Often, she returned to her family; then the 
child's nurse would be dismissed. As soon as the mother went 
away again, another was hired. The child, therefore, trans- 
ferred his love to many female subjects, but at the same time, 
constantly sought his mother. The youth now repeats the 
same thing. He seeks his mother with fervent longing, often 
thinks he has found her, and then, disillusioned, sees his error. 

The lad was free from masturbation and possessed good 
principles. The sexual root which lurked behind his eroticism 
soon came to light, however. One day, as he was ascending * 
the stairs, terrible asthma with palpitation of the heart seized 
him, together with a crick in the back. Commanded to fix his 
attention on this occurrence, he reported that his father had 
shortly before written to him of his intended visit. Further, 
it occurred to him that a year before, he had received a letter 

* See above, page 94. 



HYSTERICAL SYMPTOMS 127 

with same content but had averted the visit by telegraph, 
which, this time, did not go easily. The pain in the back re- 
minded him that in the afternoon, a rendezvous in the forest 
had taken place. During the caressings, the youth bent over 
his girl, whereupon a tree-trunk hurt him painfully in that 
part of his back. Therefore the hysterical symptom trans- 
ports him by way of wish into the situation, so pleasant at that 
time, to which he has now fled upon his father 's announcement. 
Naturally, he could not guess this meaning of his crick in the 
back. Only when I had him fix his attention sharply on the 
symptom, did the reminiscence come. The asthma took us 
back to the first years of childhood. As a small child, our pa- 
tient frequently had hallucinations (''sexual apparitions"),* 
upon the appearance of which, he fled anxiously to the bed of 
his elder brother. He saw two panting figures : One, a man 
armed with a knife or revolver and the other, a woman ordi- 
narily carrying a broom. The boy had (like the one mentioned 
on page 68) observed his parents in the conjugal bed and 
thereby suffered one of the most frequent causes of the neuro- 
sis. Without analysis, it would have been impossible to dis- 
cover these facts. 

All symptoms, with the exception of the cramp in the thigh, 
disappeared quickly, unfortunately too quickly. The remain- 
ing pain also subsided to a minimum and therewith also the 
interest in the analysis. The attitude toward his father and 
along with this, his attitude toward humanity in general, was 
still not normal. After an insignificant conflict with the well 
meaning and estimable man, he joined his brother who had 
wandered to a distant part of the world. Perhaps this step 
redounded to his advantage, still he can scarcely avoid a hard 
school. The hysterical pains disappeared immediately after 
his departure. 

The erotic conflict seems also to predominate in the following 
case which I will sketch because of its valuable pedagogic ma- 
terial, in spite of its fragmentary character: A woman of 
twenty-seven years has been for three years entirely incapable 

* Compare Haberlin, see foot-note on page 13. 



128 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

of working and has wandered from one sanitarium to another. 
Besides many hysterical symptoms (blinking of the eyes, 
stomach disorders, etc.), she suffers from an enormous feeling 
of insufficiency, constant mild twilight states, often extending 
over months, and from the feeling of not being really alive but 
being only an onlooker at life. 

When five years of age, she lost her mother, when seven years 
old, her father. Immediately after the death of her mother, 
she was taken by her mother's sister. The intelligent patient 
described excellently the factors which chiefly determined her 
attitude toward life: "As a little human being, I brought 
with me into the world strong instincts in every regard, which 
were, however, immediately and forcibly suppressed, by a 
strict, nervously ill mother.* I still well recall from this 
period a rebellion against this coercive compulsion, at the same 
time, however, also an overstrong love, or better, sympathy, 
for my mother. This compulsion was continued from my fifth 
year on, after the death of my mother, by my foster-mother, 
also a nervous, religious, entirely masochistic character, striv- 
ing toward the noblest things but violently suppressing in her- 
self and others all life instincts. In spite of the fact that I 
hated this compulsion with my whole soul, my whole power to 
love is still inseparably bound up in her. Now, however, all 
my instincts, my childish egoism, are suppressed and re- 
pressed. I have from earliest childhood led a sham life, my 
longing for love never found gratification and met with only 
severity and hardship. Thus, 'I cannot,' became the funda- 
mental tone of my life. I was always tired and miserable, 
loved sickness because of the loving duties connected with it. 
Envy and jealousy tormented me, all the repressed instincts 
developed into hatefulness. 

"Then, after many years, came the breakdown. And now, 
when I clearly recognize the facts, I perceive that a gigantic 
power for love and life lives in me, but, and that is the 
shame, I cannot now utilize it for my fellowmen. My egoism 

* Combating sexual acts is not meant here. 



INFANTILE ROOTS OF REPRESSION 129 

which has been repressed and denied all my life long, breaks 
forth in all its power. I have had nothing from life, abso- 
lutely have not lived, naturally only a part of my ego speaks 
thus and now should I work for my fellowmen who have had 
things far better than I, whom I envy, of whom I am jealous ? 
I, the one who am so very tired and miserable, for them, who 
are so much stronger and fresher than I ? 

* ' I become almost insane in this state of indecision : my one 
ego loves people with an almost consuming power, which would 
devote its entire self, — my other ego wishes all for self. And 
now I ought to fight ; but one fights only for some sort of an 
idea and this I have not — any longer. Once, I believed in a 
guiding, loving, helping omnipotence by whose favor it was 
easy to fight. Now, all that is destroyed in me. 

"My first childish recollection is of the episode, when as a 
child of three or four years, I thought I offended my own 
mother. Wherever I should be in the world, I would have the 
feeling in everything which I might do, it had no value since 
I must make good this great injury against her. And yet I 
can, when I am with my foster-mother, I really do nothing 
at all for her but am so inhibited in my efforts as never before. 
As a child when I did something good and clever, I very often 
had the thought: 'If my mother could see this, then she 
would no longer find you bad!' And at the same time, the 
hypervalent thought to consider the bad, perverse and im- 
proper as belonging to me. Thus I had, and often have, re- 
sistance against the good, some such a feeling as: 'That is 
indeed not your place, what are you doing there?' That is 
simply ridiculous ! ' ' 

After the first breakdown, she visited a sanitarium for four 
or five months. Immediately thereafter, she had a happy 
state which lasted a half year. The writings of Trine and 
Johannes Miiller awakened in her a phantastic piety which is 
reflected in the following views: "I am God, a part of the 
great whole, thus certainly of some value. Therewith, the 
heavy load which had thus far forced me to be worse and of 
less value than others for my whole life, was lifted. This 



130 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

true nature is good, for it is of God. You must live every 
moment conformable to your true divine nature, then aU 
the miserable, petty, unhealthy part of you, which really has 
no reality, will disappear. ' ' 

During this time, she was, nevertheless, outwardly very 
ill and enjoyed, besides the care of the foster-mother, the 
admiration of a neurotic youth. Because of the latter, she 
got into strife with her mother and now came the catastrophe. 
One day, her friend stroked her hand affectionately, she be- 
came excited and resumed the masturbation which she had 
practiced when five or six years old and then repressed under 
the influence of her sister until a half year ago. Immediately, 
her faith in the beneficence and purity of nature disappeared. 
"Why is my view of the world, in which, I sought, from a 
child up, the beautiful and good, only embittered? Because 
I discovered sensuousness in the world? Perhaps! I can- 
not place it in the whole, I shudder before so much filth. 
Never has anyone (until the last year) spoken to me of it. In 
the home of my foster-parents, that is something never men- 
tioned. Nothing but religion — a religion which makes me 
tired and sad. ' ' 

"The man who loves me, loses my esteem entirely. Al- 
though my subconsciousness seeks to force this love (I re- 
ceived three marriage proposals in this manner), this love 
kills my own ! It seems to me as if that must be otherwise if 
I could obey." This much from written communications 
before the beginning of the treatment. 

The analysis was rendered difficult by the fact that the girl 
could undertake the tiresome journey to me only everj'^ two 
weeks and had to fill an unpleasant position secluded from 
external interests. Everyone would get the impression at 
first that we were dealing with an erotic conflict. The over- 
strict mother and foster-mother killed in the child the joy 
of living and the courage for her own enjoyment and endeavor, 
the belief in loving and being loved. The analytic conversation 
strengthened this surmise but also plainly revealed a sexual 
undercurrent. I can show this best in the origin of the twi- 



TWILIGHT STATES 131 

light state: The first attack occurred immediately after the 
departure from the sanitarium. The girl related: "One 
day, I was pondering on the text, ' There is no fear in love but 
perfect love driveth out fear' (1st John 4:18). I said to 
myself: "Let everything go, yield yourself only to the 
father ! ' ' Half unconsciously, I did the evil deed. I was not 
ashamed, I went right to sleep. I found myself in the twi- 
light state." For a half year, there was no repetition of this 
condition. Then the fanatical friend stroked and kissed her 
hand. The patient became excited and relapsed, on the aver- 
age every fourteen days. "I was afraid of this end and of 
that which according to my fixed idea, would set in. But 
now the twilight states came often," At the same time, the 
phantastic piety broke down, the motivation for which was 
clearly disclosed. 

At the begining of the analysis, the twilight states belonged 
to the worst symptoms, they appeared daily for hours at a 
time. During this condition, she had the feeling of being 
bad. Especially, when she came into a strange neighborhood 
or when something was changed in the house, the twilight 
state immediately appeared. She thought: "Yield yourself 
entirely to the twilight state and submit to everything." 
Often she had the distinct impression: "During this mental 
state, it is again like the time when I did the forbidden thing : 
at that time, I was as if in another world. When I performed 
the evil act, the world and nature seemed different to me. I 
often said to myself, I would like to be in another world and 
know nothing of instincts." I impressed upon her to hold 
these words fast. 

Fourteen days later, in the next consultation, the symptom 
had almost disappeared. The patient saw that it merely 
realized the wish for this masturbation by yielding herself 
to the instincts without knowing of them. Still, the occasion 
for the outbreak of this symptom showed that the erotic need, 
in the broader sense, lurked behind it. The patient remem- 
bered plainly when ten years old to have experienced a deep, 
inexplicable sadness because some benches stood differently 



132 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

than ordinarily. Later, every change in the surroundings 
brought sadness. The benches signify that the corpse of the 
mother lay on the bier, the sadness with the feeling of strange- 
ness, refers to the pain over removal to the new mother and 
the homesickness felt at that time, which expressed itself 
among other things also in ordinary dreams of the earlier home. 

Thus, we find also in the twilight state, the erotic need as 
the driving force, as may be plainly seen from peculiarities 
in the general attitude toward reality. The sexuality, in ad- 
dition to the eroticism, afforded the way for the flight from 
reality : the half sle^p which each time excused the masturba- 
tion. Also, the whole exquisite masochistic attitude toward 
life showed a sexual undercurrent. When seven or eight 
years old, the child phantasied that she was tormented by a 
witch ( = foster-mother) during which, she had to hang on a 
trapeze and felt sexual pleasure and afterwards anxiety. In 
the description of the tortures suffered, she ran riot in forms. 
After the acquaintance with the youth, masochistic ideas again 
appeared, plainly sexually toned, with subsequent anxiety. 
Thus, again in this case, I could not demonstrate an asexual 
eroticism as the cause of illness. 

The analysis was not pursued to the end. Her external 
conditions were unfavorable, the case belonged to the very 
difficult, probably there was catatonia; her brother suffered 
from a severe form of this disease and was cared for in an 
insane asylum. Further, I still knew too little (as at that 
time, most analysts) of the treatment of the relations between 
educator and pupil. Nevertheless, considerable improvement 
mas attained. The chief symptoms (twilight states and feel- 
ings of inferiority) disappeared almost entirely. 

In the following, case, sexuality in the narrower sense, was 
not spoken of at all : 

A native of Holland, aged eighteen, complained to me that 
he suffered from severe pains, twitchings and often from 
pseudo-paralysis of the right arm and shoulder so that writing 
and piano playing were rendered well nigh impossible. The 
trouble was ' ' nervous. ' ' 



MELANCHOLIA 133 

Upon being questioned, he said that he suffered from severe 
emotional ill humor. The problem of suicide occupied his 
thoughts a great deal, especially since he has read Goethe's 
"Werther," Ibsen's ' ' Gespenster " and some similar gloomy 
literary works. Still, he would yield to no suicidal impulses, 
which turned out later to be an untrue assertion. 

A year later, the youth succeeded in mastering his resistance 
to analysis and analyst. The exploration of the symptom 
proceeded with such ease, because of this circumstance, that 
the more involved analysis of resistance, which is usually 
unavoidable in severe eases and always much more penetrating 
and in which, the analyst leaves to the patient almost entire 
direction of the conversation, could be omitted. 

The patient said that two years before, he read Goethe's 
''"Werther" without knowing the reason for his reading it, 
as he at once added spontaneously. A short time later, there 
teoke out on one hand, severe pains, which, beginning in the 
upper arm, shot through the whole arm, and on the other hand, 
suicidal impulses, which, but for the love of his parents, 
would probably have led to an act of desperation. 

Obviously, that dimly perceived reason for identification 
with the suffering Werther, was in an unhappy love affair. 
For about five years, the youth has had Platonic relations 
with a girl of same age, who attracted him and pleased him 
immensely but also angered him by moods and pretended ex- 
aggerated reserve. He constantly wavered between being joy- 
ous and sorrowful. The quarrels, in which the little dame 
showed her love in the best form, were followed by sweet 
reconciliations. The Werther mood proceeded from a final 
separation, which, according to the assertion of the patient, 
had come from the circumstance that the young lady upon 
occasion of a walk with her lover, had withdrawn in rude and 
cowardly manner. Thus the suicidal impulse corresponded to 
the damming back of erotic emotions. 

Longing for death and refusal of suicide formed a com- 
promise in numerous dreams in which the youth, tired of 
life, escaped from life without guilt to himself, for instance, 



134. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

by falling from the window. The erotic background is plainly- 
discernible to the experienced observer from the typical sym- 
bol of falling. 

While the patient put the blame for the rupture upon the 
jilted friend, he was silent concerning the real motive and 
the burning self-reproach. Only the analysis elicited from 
him the confession that some comrades had represented to 
him that the girl possessed too little charm and too few talents 
and that he should have far higher aspirations, etc. The 
anxious attitude toward the one formerly so hotly desired justi- 
fied the brusque jilting so little that he had to accuse himself 
of ungentlemanliness. Too proud to pick up again the severed 
threads, he inwardly renounced love for girls in general and 
surrendered to worldweariness. Hysteria at once intervened 
as the avenger of the injured amor. 

The analysis of the pains in the arms proceeded rapidly. 
Keeping the symptom in view, the young man recalled that 
his father had asked him during one of his attacks of pain, 
"in especially gentle tone" what ailed him. In this, the pa- 
tient betrayed his father-complex which frequently caused 
the production of the symptom in order to extort sympathy. 

In the second place, the patient remembered while associat- 
ing to unpleasant innervations in the arm, a scene which he 
had experienced with his esteemed music teacher. The latter 
said to him, several years ago, on account of bad arm position 
in piano playing: "I wouldn't have thought you could be 
so clumsy," by which, the incipient artist thought himself 
wounded in his honor. 

Finally, the decisive trauma came to view. Seven years 
before the analysis, the patient had one day driven away 
several girls who sat on a wall, by throwing stones at them 
and then sitting on the wall himself. After awhile, he wished 
to bring still more stones but in so doing, fell so hard that 
he broke his collar bone. The reduction of the fracture was 
successfully accomplished only on the third day, accompanied 
by severe pain. 

This confession made intelligible to us, why the break with 



UNCONSCIOUS MOTIVES 135 

his girl friend caused hysterical phenomena in the arm. That 
familiar identification process, which may be included in the 
formula, "it is again as at that time," came into action. As 
the eleven year old boy had considered his pains in the arm a 
just punishment for his ungentlemanliness against the fair 
sex — the accident clearly had the meaning of an unintentional, 
even though subconsciously desired, self-punishment — so the 
sixteen year old youth saw himself branded as ungentlemauly 
and brutal before the bar of his conscience. The memory of 
the earlier ordeal did not come to clear consciousness. But 
the need for expiation, which gave the faithless more to do 
than the loss of the once beloved maiden, obtained satisfaction 
by creating the painful symptom which may therefore be recog- 
nized here as a wishfulfillment. To self-accusation, the mem- 
ory of the piano-teacher also points ; this would say : ' ' You, too, 
were no virtuoso ; how then could the lack of talents in your 
girl friend give you the right to cast her off? You are just 
as much in the wrong as that time on the wall when judgment 
overtook you." Consequently, the hysteria represented the 
expiation-complex, just as the anxiety symptom did the block- 
ing up of the eroticism. 

A short time after the beginning of the suicidal impulse 
and the physical phenomena accompanying the same, which 
increased as we know, even to paralysis, there came the down- 
fall of his faith in God. Formerly, he had thanked God fer- 
vently for his love for his girl friend. Since the gift proved 
to be delusive, the giver must also fall — a psychological pro- 
cess which may be often observed where the erotic disturbance 
leads to renunciation of every love which has marriage in 
view. 

Again, after a short space of time, the youth fell out with 
his father, who for the most part had been little concerned 
with his love affair. When the son, in his distress, occasionally 
showed his distaste for life, the father became terribly ex- 
cited, called suicide pathological and unreasonable, a sign of 
deficient faith in God and moral fickleness. As the only means 
of help, he recommended work and prayer. 



136 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

After about a year had passed, there came into the hands 
of the young atheist, who was completely dominated by his 
skepticism, some beautiful Madonna pictures. The impression 
was so overwhelming that he immediately began to pray to 
Mary. His good Reformed conscience, which had been de- 
veloped by the spiritual influence of his religious teacher who 
excelled in critical acumen as well as in sympathy, he soothed 
by a false conclusion: since there was for him no longer a 
Christ and he believed in no God, then he need make no re- 
proach if he now lifted his heart to the Heavenly Virgin. 
Shortly before this sublimation, the sister of his former sweet- 
heart had greeted him most graciously, at which time, the 
similarity between the sisters struck him and the noble bearing 
of the girl inspired him with a secret longing, the desire for an 
ideal sister of the lost fiancee. 

In this adoration of the Madonna, the father-, mother- and 
bride-complexes are all manifested. The longing for the ideal 
Virgin takes the place of the earlier inclination toward the 
loved one. To love Mary, the beautiful, pure, spotless one, did 
not subject him to the danger of later disillusionment and 
harsh interference from the side of father and friends. Fur- 
ther, the God-Mother, with her boundless love for her misun- 
derstood, suffering son, provided a substitute for his own 
mother who allowed him to miss the tone of loving consolation. 
Finally, however, the Queen of Heaven represented divine 
supremacy without bearing the fatal name of father or other- 
wise recalling the austere, uncomprehending father. In the 
background, there naturally lurked the pleasure in avenging 
himself on the Creator by pious adoration of the Madonna 
and on the strict Protestant father, by the Catholic cult. 

Thus, Mary represents the beloved one, yet, being without 
physical and mental defects, she stood for the mother and 
further, being without human shortsightedness, she takes the 
place of the earthly and heavenly father and that without 
tormenting austerity. 

What a rich substitute, the divine Virgin afforded the 
shattered hysteric, is shown by the following event. When the 



ADORATION OF MADONNA 137 

pains became unbearable, the patient felt himself compelled 
to travel to Einsiedeln. He appears before the famous altar 
of Mary and will say his prayers, when, in an instant, the pain 
has gone. No wonder! The sufferer has found his beloved 
again and in the person of the graciously forgiving one. His 
self-accusations have therewith become groundless, he is no 
longer the unchivalrous person who cruelly left his beloved 
in the lurch. 

That, in spite of this, the sublimation miscarried, is shown 
by the quick reappearance of physical and mental troubles. 
Painfully, the youth dragged himself through life, his achieve- 
ments suffering great loss. 

More than a half year, he remained under the sway of the 
(Madonna, Then he fell in love with a young girl whom he 
informed at once, in characteristic fashion, of his suicidal 
thoughts. The sublimated libido, which the damming of the 
primary eroticism had raised to heavenly heights, flowed out 
to the new object, while for Mary, there remained only modest 
admiration without any especial ardor. 

On the other hand, the relation to the father continued 
strained. The son, longing to be understood, felt ungratified. 
Hence, a sincere attitude toward God, the Heavenly Father, 
was also impossible. As usually happens in such cases, the 
sulking youth constructed all kinds of objections to God 's pur- 
poses and fortified himself behind the unfathomableness of the 
idea of God, but was, nevertheless, himself not at all sure of 
the validity of his objections and suffered from internal deso- 
lation. Occasionally, also before the analysis, he prayed to a 
higher power whom he would under no consideration call God. 
My task consisted less in refuting the threadbare theoretical 
arguments than in soothing and conciliatory conversation con- 
cerning the relation toward the well-meaning father, whose 
error was not greater than that of thousands of educators who 
lack all neurological understanding. 

Three weeks before our conversation, the hysteria had flared 
up again, though in diminished intensity. The analysis 
brought to light the circumstance that the lovesick youth, on 



138 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

one occasion, heard music poorly rendered, on another, saw 
poor handwriting. The reader probably surmises already that 
the new girl friend plays and writes badly, thus presenting 
the danger of a new estrangement. The discovery of this con- 
nection was not necessary to convince the patient of the correct- 
ness of our interpretation but it brought a surprising and sig- 
nificant confirmation of telling force. 

As there was still some time remaining, I informed myself 
concerning some other traces of "nervousness." It turned 
out that the youth became terribly frightened and trembled 
violently when he was called suddenly. The most important 
trauma proved to be a peevish call of the father who could 
not allow the boy to show himself on the street with his first 
girl friend. To-day, the youth is afraid that his father may 
interfere to destroy his new affair. Since with him, as with 
so many neurotics, his superiors and teachers represent a sub- 
stitute of the father, his fright is easily explained. 

The effect of the conversation, which, because of its super- 
ficial nature, scarcely deserves the name, analysis, was pro- 
nounced. The talented young man was strongly affected by 
the glance into the causal connection of mental processes which 
had caused him such frightful suffering. With his father, 
whom he had caused so much concern, he became reconciled by 
a free confession. The cultural deficiency of his girl friend, 
with whom an ideal relation existed, he made light of. After 
a week, he reported triumphantly to his former pastor, to whom 
he again brought unbounded confidence, that he had now 
found peace with God and felt himself again a completely 
healthy, happy and fearless man. This fortunate condition 
has continued to the present (three years), an indication that 
even a somewhat ordinary symptom analysis, which is not to be 
altogether recommended for imitation, may work efficiently in 
the absence of much resistance.* 

Similarly, sexual motives were lacking in the anamnesis of 

* From my article : "Zur Psychologie des hyster. Madonnenkultus." 
Zbl. Psa. I, Part 1, reprinted in Z. f. Religionspsychologie V (1911), 
pp. 263-271. 



NON-EROTIC SOURCES 139 

the following case : A woman, at the beginning of the meno- 
pause, reported that she felt twitchings in her hand and feared 
that St. Vitus ' dance, which she had had when fifteen to seven- 
teen years old and which had been treated at that time with 
electricity and hydrotherapy, would break out again. The 
cause of that illness lay in a frightful experience: She had 
boasted (in self -tormenting provocation) that she could not be 
scared. A boy, to test her, threw himself from a tree into 
the snow right in front of her. The infantile root of the 
trouble was easy to find: the drunken father had pushed his 
three year old daughter through a glass door, of which episode, 
a scar under the eye remained as proof. Before the recent 
outbreak of twitching, a new fright had occurred: The son 
of our patient had been taken home by the police because of 
a theft. The mother fell in a faint from fear that the de- 
tective's dog would jump in her face. Whether sexual factors 
also aided, I do not know. A real analysis, I would not under- 
take because of the critical age of the woman. When I met her 
three and a half years later, she was well. Probably she would 
have visited me long before if the symptoms had not disap- 
peared soon. 

(C) NON-EROTIC SOURCES 

No matter how strong objections I raise against deriving 
the whole mental life from sexuality and eroticism, I cannot 
disguise the embarrassment which now seizes me when I must 
name the roots of repression outside of the love-life. For the 
child, the attributes derived from the ego-instincts are most 
intimately intermingled with relations to parents, brothers, 
sisters and friends. But we emphasize the fact that by no 
means merely sensual affection binds the child to father and 
mother. Even the one year old child shows an outspoken 
instinct for self-assertion. Proudly, he shows how big he is. 
My experience shows that Alfred Adler generalizes too strongly 
the significance of organic inferiority for the origin of the 
feeling of inferiority, the overcoming of which causes the 
neurosis, and underestimates the effect of erotic obstacles. 



140 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

But no one denies that many neuroses rest on the vain attempt 
to create self-esteem or on the effort to avoid a one-time suf- 
fering of childhood (compare 143f). There, too, a gratify- 
ing love seems to be able to compensate for the deficiency. 

Further, according to my experience, the feeling of in- 
tellectual or moral inferiority presses just as grievously on the 
spirit and determines just as strongly the outbreak of neurotic 
suffering. 

Let us not forget that the distinction between sexual and 
ego instincts (Freud*) is an abstraction. In reality, there 
exists in ambition, which, on account of want of appreciation, 
loss of means, etc., may come into severest repression, a con- 
siderable amount of eroticism, perhaps the wish to impress the 
father or the ladies. Therefore, one can often help such per- 
plexed ones, analytically. But also, in the eroticism, there is 
often, probably always, a certain amount, even though small, 
of instinctive desire for self-esteem or self-accomplishment. 
Sexual traumata often occasion feelings of inferiority. 

Adler's denial of the etiological significance of the sexual 
life in general (Adler & Fortmiiller, "Heilen und Bilden," 
Munich, 1914, page 102), I consider a fundamentally false 
view. (See my article: **Die Padagogik der Adlerschen 
Schule" in Berner Seminarhldtter VIII, pages 159-173.) 

That the ego instincts may be repressed, is admitted; this 
is a possibility but I have never seen it. But we are already 
beyond the bounds of our discussion. 

* See above, page 72. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE REPEESSION PROCESS 

The observations given above enable us to understand more 
exactly the nature of the repression process and its general 
conditions. So far as possible, therefore, I shall omit new 
foundations for induction. 

1. The Traumatic Repression 

In the beginning of the psychoanalytic investigation, it was 
thought that there must be assumed, as the cause of every 
neurosis, a shocking occurrence, a so-called trauma. Breuer 
and Trend said in their first publication : ' ' Our experiences 
have shown us that the various symptoms, which pass for 
spontaneous, one might say idiopathic (primary) manifesta- 
tions of hysteria, exist in just as strict relation to the causative 
trauma as those of the above-named (so-called traumatic 
hysteria)." * The painful memory of the shock remained in 
the unconscious and produced its effect from there "in the 
manner of a foreign body." It was only necessary to allow 
the reminiscence to be "abreacted" by full oral expression with 
accompanying affects, to put everything in order.! This was 
the view of the followers of the ' ' Cathartic Method. ' ' 

Though the widest field was thus granted to the trauma, 
still, Breuer at least, limited the psychological method of con- 
sideration by asserting that a great number of characteristic 
phenomena went back, not to ideas, but to physical irritations.^ 

This method of consideration was historically necessary so 
long as we were not in a position to penetrate the deeper 

* Studien iiber Hysterie (preliminary report), p. 2. 
t P. 255. 
$P. 166. 

141 



14« THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

mental strata. The connection between shock and symptom 
was right at hand, the hereditary defect of the nervous system 
was also recognized. Hence, it is not surprising that the de- 
mand for causality was satisfied for awhile with the discovery 
of the trauma. 

It is only to be regretted that even to-day, many who speak 
in detraction of psychoanalysis consider that view, which was 
certainly a valuable transition stage in its way, as the complete 
and final position of psychoanalysis. 

Our consideration of the infantile roots of the repression 
has shown us that also behind the traumatic hysteria there 
exists infantile material. Since that material was somewhat 
scanty, another example may be given : 

Before I knew Freud, I treated an hysterical girl, twenty- 
one years of age, who had suffered for some years from in- 
creasing melancholia, irritability, diminished capacity for work 
and chronic pains in the stomach. The latter trouble had been 
treated in vain for five years with powders, pumps and dietetic 
regulations. Further, the consolations, exhortations and pray- 
ers of constant pastoral attention availed nothing except to 
gain me the confidence of the patient. One day, she confessed 
voluntarily that five years before, her drunken mother pulled 
her daughter by the hair to the floor, held her head over an ash 
receptacle and threatened to kill her with the axe. After this 
confession had been made, accompanied by much affect, the 
stomachache disappeared, not to reappear up till now (five 
years). A half year after this cure, which astonished me 
greatly at the time, I learned to recognize unconscious motives 
for the first time, being taught by Freud in the meantime. 
The girl had often said: "The scene wdth the mother lies 
hard on my stomach." Still later, her considerably older 
sister reported to me that many years before she had been 
through an entirely similar affair with the alcoholic mother. 
It is fairly certain that something of that kind had befallen 
my patient with the stomach trouble in the early years, at all 
events, something similar. 

Anyway, an analogous event always precedes the shock. 



OVERDETERMINATION OF SYMPTOMS 143 

Hence the neurotic symptom has several determining factors, 
at least two. Therefore, it is called over-determined. Freud 
speaks of the experience "that no hysterical symptom can pro- 
ceed entirely from a real experience but that every time, the 
memory of earlier experiences awakened by associations, col- 
laborates in the causation of the symptom. ' ' * The same 
phenomenon occurred later in the trauma and other normal 
performances. We have often had opportunity and shall have 
it many times again, to show these over-determinations, t If I 
do not point out all of them, it is usually because the demands 
of brevity prevent, often also, because the analysis did not pene- 
trate so deep. I can only assert that in general, where one has 
opportunity for searching exploration, the messenger of the 
earlier determinants may be detected. 

As the trauma has gained a part of its importance from the 
overdeterminants and must yield to these, so there came a 
further backward pressure from the observation that the 
trauma is often brought about by unconscious intention.^ We 
introduced some examples when we spoke of the psychology of 
unlucky persons and related phenomena. || 

Finally, one often notes that the event causing the shock is, 
in itself, really of insignificant nature, but has gained an 
immense importance from its previous history. One sees, 
even in daily life, how an indifferent remark, a trifling event, 
can call forth a disproportionate discharge of affect. The 
folk-saying regarding such events is : a ticklish point has been 
touched. The analysis gives us the motive for the ticklishness : 
To the present irritation, are added contributions of affect 
which have been prepared from previous analogous experiences. 
We shall be able to picture this after we have examined trans- 

* Freud, Zur ^tiologie der Hysterie. Kl. Schriften I, p. 155. 

t Also more recent impressions may determine, where the infantile 
prerequisite is given. 

± K. Abraham, tjber die Bedeutung sexueller Jugendtraumen fiir die 
Symptomatologie der Dementia prseeox. Zbl. f. d. Nervenheilkunde 
u. Psychiatric, 1907, No. 238. C. G. Jung, Neue Bahnen der Psy- 
chologie. Raschers Jahrbuch, Vol. Ill, 1911. 

II See above, p. 110. 



14* THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

position of emotion, symbolic representation and other proc- 
esses. 

In the end, the precipitating circumstance becomes so ir- 
relevant that we can no longer speak of a trauma. 

An example in this connection: A youth of twenty years 
sees, four days before he must devote himself to military serv- 
ice, a funeral procession which disturbs him. Marched to the 
school for recruits, he is seized with terrible anxiety that he 
will never leave the place alive. With difficulty he crowds 
back a suicidal impulse. Only toward the end of his service, 
does the trouble find an end. A few days after his discharge, 
I undertook the analysis. [The funeral procession.] "I see 
only the hearse with the coachman. Now, there occurs to me 
something of which I had not thought: The coachman for- 
merly lived on the same street as we. "When I was six years 
old, I witnessed an accident to him. The horses ran away and 
a passenger fell from the wagon. They laid a black cloth over 
the man and took him to the hospital. I ran weeping to my 
mother. ' ' 

[The coachman.] "My father. I carried his photograph 
in my pocket before my military service and also when received 
there ; the photograph showed him in uniform. ' ' 

[The coffin.] "Now I think of that of my former local 
preacher G. This man was my Sunday School teacher. He 
died at about fifty when I was about six, ' ' [Your father now ? ] 
* * He is also fifty years old. ' ' 

In the night before his furlough, he dreamed : * * I came into 
our room in X Street (where the coachman lived). My 
parents and other black clothed persons were present. By the 
cupboard, stood a coffin. They were discussing serious things. 
I heard the words : One must go. I showed my train ticket. 
The glances of all fell on me. My father looked at me ear- 
nestly and said: You have such a ticket; with that, you 
cannot go back. The others wept. I replied that I had asked 
the conductor several times whether the ticket was right and 
he had said : *'Yes, with that you go farther." 

[The room.] "Here, the funeral of an old member of the 



INTERPRETATION OF ASSOCIATIONS 145 

household took place. I saw the coffin carried by the cupboard 
which figured in the dream." (We leave aside the symbolic 
significance. ) [ The content of the coffin. ] ' ' It was covered. ' ' 
[Whom do you think was in the coffin?] ''My grandfather 
died a year ago. Mother wept as now in the dream." [One 
must go.] *'I can only think of myself." [The pale faces.] 
*'I saw my father thus after an earthquake. In service, I had 
great joy when a letter or message came from him. Of my 
obsession, I said nothing to him. ' ' 

Before the obsession which broke out during his service, 
another had prevailed for some days: Namely, the doubt 
whether the free interpretation of the Bible, to which he had 
been devoted might not in the end be sinful. 

In explanation, it is to be added that the father of the patient 
is a strict, orthodox man of austere piety. His son feared 
him and in his presence suffered all kinds of constraint of gait, 
concerning which I will report in another place. 

Some days before the outbreak of the anxiety, the youth had 
to lament the departure of his beloved. The separation pained 
him deeply for he feared to lose the girl entirely. 

The interpretation of the incomplete associations seems to 
run something as follows: The coachman means the father; 
that he lost a passenger is repressed. In the coffin, a substitute 
for the father was phantasied, a man who, from his position as 
teacher, his age and his piety, now refused by the day-dreamer, 
could serve very well as representative of the repressed father. 
Behind this phantasy, lurks, as we shall show later, the wish 
for the death of the father. This wish cannot surprise us be- 
cause of the resentment present. (A similar example, I have 
published previously*: Upon reading the description of a 
funeral procession, a youth became violently excited. He, too, 
phantasied the hated father and his substitute in the coffin.) 
In the photograph carried in the pocket, the father like the 
coachman wears a uniform ; the son will also wear one in a few 
days. Thus, the primary wish is the unpermitted death-wish 

* Ein Fall von psychanalytisclier Seelsorge und Seelenheilung. 
Evang. Freiheit, 1909. 



146 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

whicli is repressed. The obsession represents, as so often, a 
sin. The sacrifice by his own death is illuminated by the com- 
mon possession of the uniform and the position of the son. 

The dream shows how the expectation of death is changed. 
The conductor promising salvation represents the colonel who 
consoled the excited recruit in friendly manner. The strik- 
ingly strong joy over news from the father is comprehensible 
to us in view of the repressed death wish. The obsession 
receded when a young girl had sent him a friendly postcard. 

Of a trauma, there can be no mention but only of a recent 
(just appeared) irritation or actual impression (Freud).* 

2. The Phantastic Repression 

Our results, we find expressed by Freud in the *'Traum- 
deutung ' ' in the formula : ' ' Not on the memories themselves, 
but on phantasies formed on the basis of memories, depend 
the hysterical symptoms." We can say the same of all other 
repressions. Often, phantasies which give veiled expression to 
a strong desire, precede the outbreak of a pathological symp- 
tom t in which the latter points by its aspect to the phantasies. 
It would not be correct to say : it is the phantasy which calls 
forth the neurotic malady; rather, the phantasy is only a 
symptom of a blocking of an instinct, which, under certain 
circumstances, must lead to illness. The phantasies are often 
produced on a basis of a definite disposition by the accumula- 
tion of little events which bring about conviction. In some 
analyses, we saw slights by the parents which caused painful, 
hence to be repressed, conviction (83, 112) ; at other times, 
sexual incitements occurred (88, 94) ; hate led to inadmissible 
death phantasies (83, 145, 296), the unallowed longing worked 
stealthily, etc. (178). 

This insight, that a phantasy lies between reality and the 
repression, is of great importance for the comprehension of the 
repression. The deeply planted instinct, according to this 

* See above, p. 152. 

t Freud, Hysterische Phantasien imd ilire Bezielixmg zur Bisexualitat. 
Kl. Schriften II, p. 138 ff. 



THE FATHER-IMAGE 147 

fundamentally important knowledge, goes back not directly to 
reality but to reality expressed in the phantasy, which reality 
is real only in imagination. Thus, when a person suffering 
from obsessional neurosis, has anxiety concerning a father who 
is long since dead,* or prays for him (see page 70), this is not 
the real father, but without the person's knowing the fact, it 
is the father-image still living in the imagination which has 
attracted the eroticism to itself. The father-picture (accord- 
ing to Jung's expression accepted by Freud, the father-image, 
Vater-Imago t) is the object of the repressed desire. Or, 
when an hysterical individual is attached to his mother, and 
drives his little ship of life in unbelievably rocky courses in 
order to find her, he does not usually proceed to her as she is, 
but to her, as she lives in his unconscious as the guardian of 
his childhood days, to the mother-image.J Hence, the in- 
fluence of the parents is in no way interrupted by their death. 
On the contrary, we see a person ruled by a dead person and 
that indeed for his whole life-time. 

Thus, the neurotic struggles with ghosts and even the normal 
individual stands continually under the sway of unreal forces 
which guide him now to injury, now to gain. Getting free 
from Maya, the illusion, is in fact an essential part of the 
problem of salvation, though not as Buddhism teaches it. The 
emancipation from the unreal, so far as it inhibits life, forms 
the requisite for all highest development of the noblest mental 
powers. Most normal individuals also suffer from inhibitions 
which rob them of a considerable part of their efficiency. 

The content of the phantasy can also be a theory invested 
with affect. A girl of sixteen years suffered regularly at the 
menstrual epoch from vomiting. It turned out that when she 
was small, she had believed that children were bom by the 

* Freud, Bemerkungen ii. e. Fall v. Zwangsneurose. Jahrb. I, p. 362. 

t Jung coined this expression in connection with Spitteler's psycho- 
logical novel "Imago," as well as the ancient "Imagines et lares." 
Jahrb. Ill, p. 164. 

t When a young man seeks a considerably older woman for a wife, 
it is not quite the mother of his first years of life who floats dimly 
through his mind. 



148 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

mouth. After she had gained insight in this connection, the 
symptom ceased immediately. Especially do creation- and 
birth-theories seem to be of great importance for the later 
development of the individual.* In an elderly woman, I found 
the cause of her frigidity, etc., to be a shocking experience of 
childhood: She saw, under the bed of a parturient woman, 
a string and came to the conclusion that children were pulled 
out of the mother's body by the aid of this string. 

3. The Degree of Repression (the Unconscious and 
foreconscious) 

The strength of the repression depends on many factors: 
The intensity and contradictoriness of the factors of repression 
with their affects, the suddenness of the conflict, its preparation 
by practice or some kind of experience even as far back as in- 
fancy, the effect of related processes, the further directability 
of the sum of excitation, the more or less clear conception of a 
painful idea, the resistance against the mastery of reality im- 
posed by conscience and many other conditions may be men- 
tioned. 

One expects at the beginning that the repression would run 
through a whole scale of degrees. In the common course of 
ideas, we see one content of consciousness appear in the place of 
another. The narrowness of consciousness presupposes that 
kind of ''repressions," I use the name in this sense reluctantly. 
Behind, there remains a disposition, the strength of which can 
be measured by means of various methods. I mention those of 
the retained members, those of chance, the saving method, the 
method of aids and whatever they may all be called. f Fur- 
ther, the memories which were lost without saving discomfort 
cannot all be reproduced, even where they undoubtedly have a 
powerful effect. Freud points out that just our most im- 
portant memories, those which influence character so inten- 

* Freud, tJber infantile Sexualtheorien. Kl. Schriften II, pp. 159- 
174. 

tM. Offner, Das GedSchtnis, pp. 38-43. 



COURSE OF THE PSYCHOANALYSIS 149 

sively, which, go back to the educational impressions of earliest 
youth, almost never become conscious to us.* 

The stimulation and operation of the dispositions, the so- 
called reproduction, takes place in ordinary forgetting quite 
differently than in that where a repression in the narrow 
sense, a violent putting away of a painful idea, has occurred. 
If we will speak of the expressions of the repression, we come 
to speak of the cases in which a known idea resists reproduc- 
tion in a striking manner (Chapter XII). Especially strong 
apperception of the idea sought for often helps over the dif- 
ficulty. 

Not so by strong repressions. Ever so intensive attempts 
to find the subconscious motive result at first fruitlessly. It 
avails not at all that the patient racks his brain, the idea 
sought for is not ready for consciousness, no matter how 
certainly it may give notice of its presence in pathological 
phenomena. The psychoanalytic method, too, though it pene- 
trates under the surface smoothly and easily in favorable cases, 
possesses no magic formula which opens all doors at a touch, 
nor cleaves all overlying strata. Thus far, I have given par- 
ticularly simple examples. But even there, I could not always 
disclose the byways which led to the goal. Months and even 
years of work would be, and often are, demanded to bring back 
the banned idea, the elimination of which many times requires 
the most tremendous efforts of the moral consciousness and all 
the affirmative forces of personality, and then the task would be 
performed only in part. Mountains of obstacles must often be 
removed, before a repressed group of thoughts, a so-called 
complex, an expression introduced by Jung and Bleuler and 
approved by Freud, is made accessible to clear consciousness. 
We shall hear that this exploration must not always be pur- 
sued to the deepest roots. 

May definite degrees of repression be distinguished from 
one another ? So long as we cannot measure the energies of the 
instincts, of the individual functions of these, and of the re- 
lation of individual instinctive activities, an exact statement 

* Traumdeutung 2d ed. p. 333. 3rd ed. p. 361. 



150 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

of the degree of repression is not to be thought of. Further, 
we have no psychological characteristic for the marking off of 
different stages. An apparently harmless symptom may have 
proceeded from strong repression or from a great sum of lesser 
repressions, a seemingly doubtful sign often rests on a weighty 
but still less deeply founded denial. 

Freud emphasizes only one distinction: that between the 
foreconscious and unconscious. Because of their psychological 
character, we may discuss these at this point, although accord- 
ing to the relations of origin, this discussion would regularly 
come under the effects of the repression. The foreconscious 
is, as a non-conscious, also an unconscious. Still, Freud 
recommends keeping the two expressions sharply differentiated 
(see page 46). The excitation processes present in the fore- 
conscious may, according to him, ''appear in consciousness 
without further delay, provided certain conditions are fulfilled, 
for instance, the attainment of a certain intensity, a certain 
distribution of that function which one has to call attention and 
the like. It is, at the same time, the system which holds the 
key to voluntary motor activity. The system behind this, we 
call the unconscious because it has no entrance to conscious- 
ness except through the foreconscious, in which transition, its 
excitation process must have been subjected to changes."* 
In the child, the separation of the two functions does not 
exist, t In adults, on the other hand, there is a sharp boundary 
between them, over which boundary, a sharp censorial control 
is exercised-t 

Concerning the products of the foreconscious, we are taught : 
It alone can afford the means for the transfer of the uncon- 
scious, instinctive impulse to consciousness and to the control 
of motor function. II It inhibits the impulses present in the 
unconscious.il It longs to sleep and when irritations occur 
which would affect the sleeper, it diverts a part of its attention 

* Traumdeutung 2d ed. p. 334, 3rd ed. p. 362. 
t P. 370. II P. 377. 

$P. 377. iP. 386. 



THE COMPLEX 151 

to these.* In neurotic maladies, the unconscious impulses are 
subjected to the foreconscious and thereby gain their way to 
the motor function. Every neurotic characteristic shows a 
conflict between the foreconscious and the unconscious. t 
' ' Proceeding from the foreconscious, the unconscious impulses 
control our speech and action or compel hallucinatory re- 
gression, and direct the apparatus not appointed for them by 
means of the attraction which the perceptions exercise on the 
distribution of our mental energy. This condition, we call 
the psychosis. " $ In the hysterical symptom, a foreconscious 
motive must always be added to the unconscious motive in order 
that both wishes may be realized simultaneously in the patho- 
logical phenomenon. The foreconscious causes cessations of 
memories and affects. || In wit, a foreconscious thought is sub- 
jected to unconscious elaboration. IF 

Thus, according to Freud, the unconscious falls into two 
divisions : That of unconscious, incapable of attaining con- 
sciousness in the narrower sense, and that of the foreconscious, 
which under cumulation of intensity can enter consciousness. 
"The foreconscious exists like a screen between the system of 
the unconscious and that of consciousness. It bars not only 
the entrance (of the unconscious) to consciousness, it controls 
also the approach to voluntary motor activity and rules the 
sending out of a mobile distributable energy, from which a 
share is entrusted to us as attention. ' ' § 

4. Concept of the Complex 

Under the term, ''emotionally toned complex," Jung 
originally understood "a group of ideas held together by a 
definite affect. ' ' ** If, however, already at that time, we spoke 
of a " pregnancy-complex, " 1 1 a "money-complex" $$ and 

* P. 382. 11 p. 375. 

fP. 386. IfDer Witz, p. 141. 

t P. 377 f. § Traumdeutung, p. 410. 

** Jung, U. d. Verhalten d. Reaktionszeit im Assoziationsexperiment- 
(4. Beitr. d. diagnost. Ass.-Studien ) , p. 14. 
tfP- 18. $|P. 23. 



15^ THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

others, it was assumed that the inclusive bond existed not in the 
affective field but in the intellectual. This speech usage has 
persisted. Freud describes the complex in agreement with 
Bleuler and Jung as a * ' group of ideational elements, belonging 
together, invested with affects ' ' * and distinguishes in this con- 
ception, conscious and unconscious parts.f Of these parts, the 
unconscious factor is the more important. If one speaks of 
the * 'father-complex" of a person, one means not only that he 
loves or hates the father, but one thinks of its unconscious 
connection. It is indeed a surprising fact that in analytic re- 
search, at the point where complete indifference toward the 
father and mother seems to exist, an intense dependence may 
appear, against which dependence no intention can prevail. 

I use the term complex, therefore, for a coherent group of 
ideas, emotionally toned, which has fallen, wholly or in greater 
part, to the unconscious. 

5. Retention and Eepulsion 

With many persons who have previously developed nor- 
mally, the repression is occasioned by extraordinarily severe 
and painful events. They are hurled back by paths which are 
discussed under the subject of so-called regression (Chapter 
X, B. 5), to infantile forms of activity. With others, and 
indeed with persons who in other affairs, display abundant 
energy, the denial of the actual performance demanded and 
the repression appear from insignificant external causes. 
Among relatives of the age of puberty, one frequently sees this 
sad change occur when the eroticism, so far occupied with 
parents and brothers and sisters, should turn to another love- 
object. 

For example, a girl of sixteen years was taken ill with severe 
headache and was therefore removed from school by the physi- 
cian. As no improvement occurred, she complained of her 
condition to me and added that she was tormented during 
sleepless nights by the fear that she would become insane. 

* Freud, iJber Psychoanalyse, p. 30. 

t Freud, Zur Dynamik der ubertragung. Zbl. II, p. 169. 



UNCONSCIOUS MOTIVES 153 

The confession was introduced by the following remark: **I 
suffer because there is no love among people." An exagger- 
ated attachment to her brother was disclosed with ease. All 
other youths are dunces and fops. The dreams betray love- 
phantasies which were certainly only meant symbolically. 
Every thought of love and marriage aroused disgust. The 
brother, on the other hand, desires that his sister address him 
formally before strangers and is extremely jealous of her. He 
suffers from suicidal impulses. It was easy to break down the 
inhibition and to dissipate the headache as well as the obses- 
sions. 

Here, too, it would be unjustified to make indolence culpable 
for the arrested development. Of course, every transition to a 
new stage of development hides difficulties and demands sac- 
rifice, but the free, healthy person takes care of his inner im- 
perative without the injuries of repression and performs his 
ta^k in reality. Grillparzer describes the transitional difficul- 
ties surpassingly well in his * ' Jiidin von Toledo ' ' : 

Still children grow and wax in years, 

And every critical age in development 

Gives notice of itself by a discomfort. 

Or often an illness which warns us 

We are the same and at the same time, also different, 

And the other is suited to the same. 

So it is with our inmost self. 

It extends and describes 

A wider circle about the same center. 

Where an attachment from the past is present, a task easy 
in itself, becomes an enormous, impossible demand. 

In reality there are many transitions between the retention 
and repulsion types (more detailed discussion of this subject 
will be found in the article: ''Psychoanalyse und Jugend- 
forschung," Berner SeminarUdtfer VIII, J. 1914, p, 194 ff. 
and in American Journal of Psychology, 1914. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE GENERAL CONDITIONS 

As we now prepare to determine the general conditions 
under which repression occurs, as well as the laws by which we 
have arranged the individual processes with an aim toward 
explaining them, we are met by a difficulty which compels a 
troublesome concession. In order to obtain hy strict induction 
a theory of the special processes of the repression, we would 
have to introduce an immense number of observations. I 
recognize that in the two to three thousand hours of my 
analytic work thus far, enough results have not accumulated to 
enable me to give by examples, with sufficient thoroughness and 
completeness, the elements of the repression forces, the changes 
and inner connections of these. The temptation is great to 
take on faith a great master like Freud who has devoted to 
psychoanalysis his incomparable talents for observation eight 
to ten hours daily aside from vacations and Sundays for 
almost two decades. But this appeal to him would only be 
permissible if he could expose his immense material to testing, 
which is possible only in the smallest part. Thus, I must put 
down much as provisional hypothesis which I might assert as 
certain if my experience were larger; indeed, I fear, because 
of my restraint, to be looked at askance by more than one older 
analyst. 

Nevertheless, attention must be given to the differences of 
opinion prevailing in competent circles. While ignorant per- 
sons may jest over the present uncertainty, earnest readers 
will feel themselves called upon by the deficiencies of our knowl- 
edge pointed out, to aid in overcoming the great difficulties. 



154 



FREUD'S SEXUAL THEORY 155 



1. The Instincts Shaeing in the Repression in 
General. 

(a) FREUD 's synthetic SEXUAL THEORY 

"We recall that Freud, although he recognizes beside the sex- 
ual instinct also the ego instincts, believes that all the higher 
emotions of sympathy, artistic enjoyment and religion develop 
from sexual desires (see above page 80). It is, therefore, our 
task to present his sexual theory and subject it to criticism. 

According to Freud, the sexual instinct, which is also desig- 
nated by the term 'libido," * is composed of a number of par- 
tial instincts which are active even in the child. ' ' The sexual 
instinct of the child reveals itself as highly composite ; it per- 
mits a separation into many components which arise from 
various sources. The instinct is, above all, still independent 
of the function of reproduction, in the service of which it 
will later take its place. It serves for the attainment of vari- 
ous kinds of pleasurable sensations which we include together, 
according to analogies and connections, as sexual pleasure. 
The chief source of the infantile sexual pleasure is the suitable 
excitation of certain particularly irritable body zones which 
are in addition to the genitals, the mouth, anus, urethral orifice 
and in particular also the skin and other sensory surfaces. 
Since in this first phase of the child's sexual life, the gratifica- 
tion is found on his own body and is oblivious of a foreign 
object, we call this phase, according to a word coined by Have- 
lock Ellis, * * autoeroticism. " Those places which are impor- 
tant for the gaining of sexual pleasure, we call erogenous zones. 
The pleasure-sucking of the smallest children is a good example 
of such an autoerotic gratification from an erogenous zone ; the 
first scientific observer of this phenomenon, a pediatrist named 
Lindner of Budapest, has already rightly interpreted this as 
sexual gratification and written exhaustively of its transition 
into other and higher forms of sexual activity. Another sex- 
ual gratification of this period of life is the masturbationary 

* Freud, Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie, p. I. 



156 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

excitation of the genitals which has so great importance for 
the later life and in many individuals is never completely 
overcome. Besides these and other autoerotic activities, there 
come to expression very early in the child, those instinctive 
components of the sexual pleasure, or as we prefer to call it, 
the libido, which presuppose another person (than self) as 
object. These instincts appear in contrasting pairs, as active 
and passive; as the most important representatives of this 
group, I name the pleasure of inflicting pain (sadism) with its 
passive opposite (masochism), and the active and passive 
pleasure in looking (Schaulust) from the former of which 
(active Schaulust), later, the desire for knowledge branches 
off, as from the latter (passive Schaulust = pleasure from being 
looked at) the impulse to artistic and dramatic exhibition. 
Other sexual activities of the child come already under the 
viewpoint of the object-choice, in which another person be- 
comes of chief importance; this person owes her importance 
originally to the consideration for the instinct of self-pres- 
ervation. The distinction of sex plays in this infantile period 
no preeminent role ; thus you can assign to every child without 
doing him an injustice, a bit of homosexual endowment.* 

We will pause here to allow the critics a word.f Freud's 
sexual theory, since it builds the sexual instinct out of a group 
of partial instincts, may be designated as composite. A priori, 
one would wonder how it is possible that from such entirely 
separated sources, there should result a functional group which 
serves the one aim of reproduction so excellently. Is this 
polyphyletic conception not similar to an analogous one which 
would conceive of the hunger instinct as built up from pleasure 
of looking, grasping, chewing, swallowing, etc.? The theory 
of evolution shows us how organs are refined by progressive 

* Freud, tJber Psychoanalyse, p. 47 f . 

t The following thoughts first came to expression in a seminary 
conducted by Dr. Jung. How much is his mental product, how much 
I added in dependence on Herbart's combat against the theory of the 
mental faculties, I cannot to-day state. The principal differences be- 
tween his views and my own will come to expression later in several 
places. 



FREUD'S SEXUAL THEORY 157 

differentiation, thereby, however, ever becoming more compli- 
cated. Never, however, so far as I know, does biology sup- 
pose the complicated structure of an organ to have been formed 
from a number of separate partial organs. Further, psy- 
chology has stripped off the old faculty-psychology which 
would derive the higher achievements from a number of sep- 
arate faculties. Further, it recognizes the law of progressive 
differentiation. 

Freud seems to represent the opposite view. This is only 
appearance, however. He adheres throughout to the phenom- 
ena and for good reasons, provisionally refuses the phylo- 
genetic and metaphysical methods of consideration (in con- 
trast to Jung). The partial instincts are not elementary 
forces for him, but are, according to his explicit explanation, 
susceptible of a further reduction, which leads on the one side, 
to a non-sexual "instinct" (compare Bergson's 'elan vital') 
and reactions to organic stimuli (Drei Abhandlungen, page 
30). Nothing prevents retaining the evolutionary theory of 
the origin and selection of organs, the sensations of which ap- 
pear within the sexual instinct, unhindered by Freud's 
psychology. Similarly, the phenomenological psychology of 
Freud can very well be broadened and enriched in the way 
of an evolutionary method of consideration. Freud has not 
spoken the final word. 

But may all parts of the body, which Freud has called 
erogenous, be now considered as sexual sources or creators of 
sexual feelings? As an example, sucking may be named. It 
consists in sucking motions which do not serve the taking of 
nourishment. Its object is a part of the lips, the finger or 
the toe. * ' The pleasure-sucking is joined to complete occupa- 
tion of the attention, leads either to falling asleep or even 
to a motor reaction in a kind of orgasm. Often, there is com- 
bined with the pleasure-sucking the rubbing of certain sensi- 
tive parts of the body as the breasts or external genitals. In 
this way, many children pass from sucking to masturbation. 
Of the sexual nature of this act, no observer (except Moll) 
has doubted. Still in the face of this bit of childish sexual 



158 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

activity, the best theories derived from adults leave us in the 
lurch. " * " It is plain that the action of the sucking child 
is determined by his seeking for a pleasure which has already 
been experienced and is now remembered. It is also easy to 
surmise on what occasions, the child obtained the first experi- 
ences of this pleasure which it now endeavors to renew. The 
first activity of the child and that most important to life, the 
sucking at the mother's breast (or its substitute) must have 
made it acquainted with this pleasure. We might say, the 
child's lips have served as an erogenous zone and the stimulation 
by the warm milk stream was probably the cause of the sensation 
of pleasure. Originally, the gratification of the erogenous zone 
was united with the gratification of the need of nourishment. 
Whoever sees a child sink back from the breast satisfied and 
fall asleep with rosy cheeks and happy smile, will be compelled 
to say that this picture also remains a standard for the ex- 
pression of sexual gratification in later life. Now the need 
for repetition of sexual gratification is separated from the 
need for taking nourishment. ' ' t 

According to this exposition, the sucking serves at first 
for the gaining of pleasure in taking nourishment. Why is 
this motivation not sufficient to repeat the motion on objects 
which are similar to the source of drink? If one considers 
the sucking as automatism, why should he not put away the 
pleasure agency of the drinking as realized, as the piano player 
unconsciously drums out a melody? It is of course probable 
that the phenomenon of the pleasure-sucking is overdeter- 
mined. But may not the pleasure of the muscular movement 
also have a share? Every kicking could just as well be inter- 
preted sexually. The similarity of the satisfied child to the 
sexually gratified man proves nothing for the sexual pleasure 
of the former. When a child energetically desires an object 
and obtains it, his gesture is similar, only the blood is not 
directed to the intestinal region and the need for sleep does 
not appear so quickly. If we assume with Freud that the child 

* Freud, Drei Abhandlungen, 40 f . 
t P. 41 f. 



ANAL-EROTICISM 159 

creates his reality in an hallucinatory manner, then the in- 
tensity of his motions will also not surprise us. That the 
mouth has an erogenous character from the very beginning, 
I cannot therefore consider as proven. 

To be sure, under certain conditions, the mouth sometimes 
acquires the significance of a sexual organ. 

A boy of fourteen and a- half years hates his younger 
brother and torments him in spite of all punishment. Every 
morning, he awakens him by sticking his finger in his mouth. 
All educational means have been powerless against this habit. 
The analysis afforded aid: It found that the evildoer, who 
had been misused pederastically by his comrades, repeated 
those scenes in an obsessional manner by symbolical displace- 
ment, as he had once irritated the brother to fornication. The 
finger served again as penis-symbol. The hate proceeded from 
denial of the homosexual love. It was possible without trouble 
to free the seducer and endangered one and improve the atti- 
tude of the hostile brother. But here we are dealing with an 
effect of repression, the mechanism of which we will have to 
speak later. If the sucking is connected with other motor 
acts then the association might be called forth by the common 
motor pleasure, whereby the sexual sensations would be awak- 
ened only later. 

Further, I cannot consider it proven that the irritation of 
the bowel-ending is originally sexual. Certainly the tickling 
occasioned by it can attract sexual libido, the same as the 
hunger instinct and indeed, mathematics, but the pleasurable 
anal sensations need not therefore be of sexual nature. I have, 
at all events, often observed how pent-up sexual desire may 
take possession of the anal zone. A patient of thirty-eight 
years who had not been able to get rid of his tormenting 
hemorrhoidal itching by all kinds of physical and chemical 
means, lost it immediately with the aid of the analysis, although 
the nodules remained. It turned out that the irritation always 
broke out when the normal sexual gratification or even when 
merely the eroticism was inhibited by refusal on the part of 
his wife, causing a flight to his mother who had extracted an 



160 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

intestinal worm from him when he was a boy of about five 
years.* But there the erogenesis is only acquired. When 
children strive to obtain heightened irritation of the anus 
by holding back the stool (in which, according to Freud's im- 
portant discovery which I have often confirmed, lies the cause 
of the frequent infantile constipation, often persisting for 
a lifetime), the desire for tickling sensations suffices for ex- 
planation. 

Further, I cannot admit the eye as an erogenous organ. In 
itself, it is not once, like the mouth, intestinal or genital 
apparatus, an object of perception. Only that which is seen 
can cause sexual irritation. Still, the eye can be invested with 
the rank of a sexual organ by later reflexion, f I know many 
hysterical girls for whom the eye plainly represents the peri- 
pheral female organ. Two of them suffered for years from 
reddened eyes which defied the efforts of oculists when deflora- 
tion- or birth-wishes brought these and other hysterical symp- 
toms to expression. One of these girls was analyzed by me 
and cured of the phenomenon. Another hysterical girl of 
sixteen years was seized with violent anxiety lest she should 
stick herself in the eye while stretching the forefinger of a 
glove. The day before, she had been sexually enlightened. 
"What finger and eye stood for, was easily revealed and the 
anxiety disappeared. Further, these cases, which are con- 
clusively substantiated by the Indian mythology, do not speak 
in favor of the theory of the physical erogenous root of the 
libido: Indra, because of a sexual misdemeanor, was con- 
demned to wear spread over his whole body, the picture of 
Yoni (vulva) ; the gods took pity on him so far as to change 
the Yonis into eyes.J 

Also, the irritation of the sexual organs by the suckling child, 
which appears later, is not proven to be a general occurrence. 
Recently, objection has been raised against this observation in 

* See my article : Kryptolalie, Kryptograpliie imd unbewusstes 
Vexierbild bei Normalen. Jahrb. Vol. V. (1913). 

t Compare Freud, Die psychogene Sehstorung in psychoanalytischer 
Auflfassung. Arztliche Fortbildung 1910, No. 9. 

t Jung, Wandlxingen u. Symbole d. Libido. 



AMBIVALENT FUNCTIONS 161 

analytic circles. Reitler asserted that Freud's observations 
were gained on the sick and should therefore not be transferred 
to healthy individuals because the psychoneurosis rests on the 
disturbance of infantile sexual development.* I do not con- 
sider myself competent to decide the question. But this much 
for the pedagogues may follow as important result of psycho- 
analytic investigations, namely, that onanism in children is 
much wider spread and signifies infinitely more than was 
formerly supposed. 

If we cannot prove the ''partial instincts" as elements of 
sexuality from erogenous zones, so also they cannot be shown 
to come from contrasting paired relations to the object. Such 
ambivalent functions (Bleuler) are: 

1. Hetero- and homosexuality, that is, the attitude of the 
sexual instinct toward those of the opposite or same sex, 

2. Sadism and masochism, that is, gaining pleasure from 
inflicting or enduring (self-inflicted) suffering. 

3. Activity of the instinct for looking and exhibiting (Schau- 
lust and Zeigetrieb). 

Concerning these contrasting pairs, Freud points out that 
both members are constantly present together and in such 
manner that one is developed stronger than the other. Every 
person is bisexually or bierotically endowed,! so far that he 
sends out erotic desires toward both sexes. The heterosexual 
libido leads normally to marriage, the homosexual to friend- 
ship, still, an ideal realization of instinct in art, religion and 
other achievements may take place. Ordinarily, the boy feels 
himself drawn more to the mother, the girl more to the father. 
On the basis of his analyses of neurotics, Freud considers the 
background of this erotic relation constantly as sexual and 
speaks accordingly in every case of a fixation on the parents, of 
incest repression. He recalls the saga of (Edipus who killed 
his father and married his mother and finds that this same 

* Die Onanie. Vierzehn Beitrage zu einer Diskussion der Wiener 
psa. Vereinigung, Wiesbaden, 1912, p. 91. 

t Freud, Hyster. Phant, u. 1. Beziehungen zur Bisexualitat. Kl. 
Schriften II, p. 144. Drei Abh. p. 6 ff. 



162 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

incestuous desire lies at the bottom of every neurosis. This 
attitude, which occurs regularly with changed sex roles also 
in women, Freud calls the nuclear complex of the neurosis. 
Now, it is quite beyond doubt that countless nervous maladies, 
upon careful investigation, go back to this nucleus — one may 
strive ever so long against this assumption, but it is simply 
irresistible. But that all neuroses rest on this attitude toward 
the family, is for me not quite conclusively established. Per- 
haps Freud is right, perhaps he has generalized too early. 

That sadism and masochism constantly occur together can- 
not be denied. Whoever investigates these two expressions 
of instinct receives the impression that two functions which be- 
long together, and which when mingled are not striking, have 
been torn apart. Freud confirms this view in a letter and 
illustrates it with the apt comparison, there may be heaped 
up in one corner of the cake all the sugar, in the other, all 
the salt. 

I have given an example on page 77. Here is another : On 
page 132, we heard of a girl of seven or eight years, who, during 
her phantasy of being mistreated by a witch (foster-mother) 
while hanging on the trapeze, felt sexual pleasure and then 
anxiety. The same child then liked to play with boys and 
girls games in which severe punishment was applied. Who- 
ever was naughty, was scorched with a burning-mirror, which 
afforded our patient great pleasure, or had to kneel submis- 
sively. When the turn came to our little sadist, she felt an 
unpleasant emotion and wished always to submit. 

Marcinowsky, a skilled analyst, contends that sadism is al- 
ways hate. He considers sadism as pleasure-toned cruelty be- 
cause it is a symbolical love act.* 

There may, however, be still other motives working along 
with these : the wish for momentarily displaying his power, to 
brutally accomplish his purpose, vengeance for pain endured 
and more complicated motives. 

So far as my experience goes, the ambivalent instinctive im- 
pulses of sadism and masochism appear separately and rule 

* Marcinowsky, Zbl. II, p. 542. 



(EDIPUS WISH 163 

the whole sexual activity when the normal erotic development 
is impeded, either through denial of affection or through strong 
irritation of pleasure in cruelty as result of corporal punish- 
ment. 

It is worthy of note that in the inhibition of one of the am- 
bivalent instinctive tendencies, the other undergoes an increase. 
The girl who lost her lover experiences, so far as the libido 
did not withdraw to the father or Savior, a strengthening of 
her friendship for her girl companions, the punished and con- 
verted tormentor of animals seeks severe tortures for himself. 

May this reversal not be easier understood by assuming that 
one and the same libido has come to mastery in different direc- 
tions and according to inhibitions present, turned more to this 
or that activity in order to realize its gain of pleasure ? If we 
are dealing with separate partial instincts, then I do not see 
how such a reciprocal relation would be possible. Eather, the 
one sexual instinct turns from one activity to another, as the 
life-force (Lebensdrang), in positions where other outlet is 
denied it, for example in children who are confined, devotes 
itself to sexuality. 

Extraordinarily difficult to answer is the question of the 
significance of the CEdipus wish. Freud represents the view 
that the repression of the incestuous longing for the mother 
and the corresponding hatred of the father forms the nuclear 
complex of every neurosis in the male sex. According to this 
view, every neurotic girl and woman is a secret Electra. 
Against this hypothesis, which forms the greatest stumbling 
block to the critics, the criticism has hurled itself with more 
passionate excitement than calm judgment of the facts in the 
case, and one can only be amazed at the ease with which some 
arrive at conclusions on this difficult subject who have never 
seriously considered it, while others who have worked on the 
problems for years, gain a positive opinion only with the 
greatest difficulty. 

Let us first establish the fact that uncommonly many neurotic 
individuals display an abnormal attachment, indeed erotic 
attachment, to their parents. "We did not observe this state 



164 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

of affairs in all our cases by a long ways. If the analysis had 
been pushed deeper, without doubt there would have been 
found far more motives of that kind. Still, it is to be remem- 
bered that we interpreted a great number of phenomena as 
causal, understood their formation, without finding among 
the determinants the CEdipus impulses or their feminine coun- 
terpart. The latter, we met plainly in the girl who was perse- 
cuted in her dream by her father (67) ; more or less plain 
resemblances to the CEdipus situation we saw in the boy who 
was afraid of horses, steam rollers, etc. (68), in another 
person who wore himself out in strife with the number 13 (70), 
in the girl who slandered her foster-father (75), in another 
girl who fell in love with her pastor (82), in the engaged girl 
who lost her love on the stairs (94), in the other girl who 
could love her fiance only when he was absent (HI), in Grill- 
parzer (120), in the- impotent husband (124), in the youth 
who suffered from pains in the arm and leg, asthma and 
melancholia (126), in the melancholy pantheist and masochist 
(128), in the pilgrim to Einsiedeln (137), and others. Still 
other examples will follow. The attachment was not always 
a sexual one. It was a question, nevertheless, whether the 
repression of incestuous wishes lurked behind these pheno- 
mena. 

While I was writing these lines, a man, aged twenty-seven, 
came in, who, after long years of study and the most diverse at- 
tempts to obtain a professional position, had failed. He suf- 
fers from tremendous anxiety so that he no longer ventures 
out among people and doubts himself. The anxiety broke out 
after some symptoms which we will pass over here, when he 
was about fifteen years old, when the intention of becoming 
a dentist appeared. In connection with this intention, the 
patient related that he remembered clearly a grievous experi- 
ence of his youth. Before he went to school, he found that 
his mother had an improper relation with a dentist. He re- 
membered this so vividly that he considered a falsification of 
memory as excluded. If we have perceived that anxiety goes 
back to desires, aroused but not gratified, then the coincidence 



(EDIPUS HYPOTHESIS 165 

of the choice of profession and the anxiety is no longer mysteri- 
ous. The boy wished, without knowing it, to put himself in 
the place of the dentist. This explanation of course will suit 
only him who has personally investigated a number of similar 
patients. 

We venture now on the criticism of the Freudian CEdipus 
hypothesis. (1) Not every person who has an CEdipus com- 
plex is neurotic. Sophocles, to whom no one will ascribe 
predilection for psychoanalysis, writes: "For many people 
have seen themselves in dreams joined to the mother." 
Freud also does not believe that the neurotics are different 
in this respect from normal individuals. (Traumdeutung, 4th 
ed., 196.) 

(2) Not every neurotic has repressed a conscious CEdipus 
phantasy as a result of the incest barrier. A proof of this as- 
sertion are the foundlings who, like Luccheni, were given to 
an asylum immediately after birth. 

(3) Not every erotic attachment to the parents is incest- 
uous. One often finds, for example, the wish to return to 
the mother's womb (see pages 200, 300, and my article, "Die 
Entstehung der kiinstlerischen Inspiration" in "Imago" II, 
page 490 ff.) . One finds it, however, only in people who would 
withdraw entirely from reality or would experience a rebirth. 
The repressed hate against the parents is very often neither 
jealousy nor unrequited love but the reaction to improper 
education. 

(4) Where the picture of the neurosis shows plain evidence 
of an CEdipus repression, where, for example, in dreams and 
symptoms, sexual wishes are directed toward the mother, it 
is questionable whether they were already present in childhood 
or only later when a regressive movement of the phantasy 
to the infantile stage occurred, newly developed sexual desires 
were displaced backward upon the same object. The mother is 
ever the trusted friend on whom a great part of the disposable 
love is concentrated. The transition to a new object of love 
cannot, according to the law of reference, which is applicable 
to repressed and non-repressed phantasies (see below Chapter 



166 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

XVII, proceed differently than that the new object of affection 
is projected upon the old object, that is the mother, whereby, 
present sexual desires are naturally attached to the early 
object. A gross CEdipus phantasy does not prove, therefore, 
the existence of an infantile repression of a wish of like content. 

"While this conception applies for the type of individual 
thrown back into the regression (repulsion type), still, we 
recognize, on the other hand, the Freudian explanation for 
inhibited persons (retention type) who have always been hin- 
dered in the transference of love to other objects by a strong 
sexual attachment in the sense of CEdipus. That such in- 
dividuals are often seen, is not to be disputed and the funda- 
mental sexual tones are frequently repressed. The discovery 
of these sexual desires always gives the patient being analyzed 
a great surprise but one not to be controverted. 

With these statements, our subject is only partially dis- 
cussed. Much work is still to be performed before it is satis- 
factorily explained from all sides. In so doing, we wiU 
separate the phantasy which we have received from the mouth 
of Sophocles, from the wish for return to the mother's womb, 
as it is expressed for example by Nicodemus in John's Gospel 
3 : 4. The latter phantasy is, as already acknowledged, often 
only a symbolical expression of a sublimated rebirth phantasy 
but certainly not always. 

In a word, the concept of libido should be made more pre- 
cise. Freud considers it, as mentioned, purely empirically as 
identical with sexual instinct (Drei Abhandlungen, page 1) or 
sexual pleasure (tjber Psychoanalyse, page 48). Jung gives 
it a metaphysical or asexual meaning. In so doing, he in- 
cludes also empirical quantities, namely, all volition, for ex- 
ample, hunger, in the term libido, as well as energy of gro^vth 
which in the ontogenesis causes the individual to divide and 
germinate (Jahrhuch TV, 178 ff.). Jung specifies thus: 
"Libido should be the name for the energy which manifests 
itself in the life process and which is perceived subjectively 
as striving and desire" {Jahrhuch V, 342). This libido is 
"nothing concrete or familiar, but rather an absolute X, a 



LIBIDO CONCEPT 167 

pure hypothesis, a picture or marker, as little concretely con- 
ceivable as the energy of the physical world" (342). 

Thus the long-used expression ' ' libido ' ' receives an entirely 
nev/ meaning. The consequence was at first a regretable ter- 
minological confusion even among Jung's nearest adherents. 
Thus, Schmid, in his work on Psychology of Incendiarism, uses 
the expression now in one sense, now in another (Psycholo- 
gische Abhandlungen, herausg, von Jung, Leipsic and Vienna, 
1914). The libido which is asexual in itself, is much like 
Freud's likewise asexual instinct ("Triebe"), which only at- 
tains sexual character under the influence of an erogenous 
organ (Drei Abhandlungen, 30), except that Freud does not, 
like Jung, invade the field of metaphysics. Into the further 
criticism of Jung 's conception of the libido, we do not need to 
go here. 

Thus, I consider Freud's libido-concept as the one which 
should be used exclusively in psychoanalytic terminology. On 
the other hand, I include all expression of instinct and volition 
under the name "life-force" (Lebensdrang) or will-to-life 
(Lebenswillen). This latter is differentiated according to the 
conditions of the perpetuation of the individual and the race in 
progressive development as air-hunger, instinct to movement, 
nutritional instinct, etc. up to the highest mental activities.* 
For the energies existing within the propagation processes 
and determining these, I prefer the expression, propagation- 
energies, for the metaphysical tendencies belonging to these 
energies, the- name, propagation-will. 

From this basis, we can also fix the terms "sexuality" and 

* Later, I find that G. F. Lipps in his monograph, "Das Problem 
der Willensfreiheit" which has- just appeared, has elaborated a theory 
which sounds much the same. For him, the life-instinct is the "imme- 
diate cause of the actions of the living being, which are executed under 
the influence of external, present and past, actually demonstrable or 
hidden forces, which, however, can never be absolutely derived from 
these forces" (Willensfr. 79). It is "an indivisable unity" (79), "a 
condition presupposed by us in our thinking, which never submits itself 
as such to investigation, but betrays itself to observation only in the 
connection between the forces and the resulting conditions." (85). To 
all of this, I subscribe. 



168 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

"eroticism" more exactly. Freud extended, because of psy- 
chological assumptions which we recognized as not sure, the 
former term far beyond the customary speech usage after he 
had not done this at first. Thus, it happened that he was 
mostly misunderstood, to the detriment of his work. In op- 
position to him, I consider it suitable to use sexuality and psy- 
chosexuality in a more original sense, one better commended 
by the history of language and a consideration for compre- 
hensibility. Under sexuality, we understand the sum total 
of those physical and psychical phenomena whch are related 
to reproduction or the activity of the reproductive instincts and 
organs. From this concept, we distinguish eroticism which 
we compare with "love" and can consider as characterized 
either as sexual or non-sexual. 

2. "Censor" and "Resistance." 

When Freud, by the aid of his psychoanalytic method, began 
to penetrate the unconscious of his patients, he received the 
impression that the patients set up a resistance against his ef- 
forts which he had to overcome by his work * and this resist- 
ance, indeed, stood in the way of the repressed ideas becoming 
conscious. "A new comprehension seemed to open to me now, 
as it occurred to me that this might well be the same mental 
force which had taken part in the originating of the hysterical 
symptom and had at that time hindered the conscious percep- 
tion of the pathogenic idea. " t As motives for repression, 
he found the affects of shame, reproach, mental pain, in short, 
painful contents, so that the repression seemed to- him a de- 
fence. 

Thus in the resistance, we are dealing: with a hostile defence 
against unpleasant ideas and emotions and therewith also 
refusal to allow these to return or be brought back into con- 
sciousness. The result of this renitenee consists mostly in the 
continuance of those symptoms of disease which depend on the 
repression. It is not the complex which struggles against its 

* Studien liber Hysterie, p. 234. 
fP. 234. 



THE RESISTANCE 169 

disclosures but the foreconseious which would spare conscious- 
ness a grievous experience. Likewise, the resistance is directed 
not against the analyst and the treatment but against the ren- 
dering conscious of the repressed material. The effect is really 
a holding fast to the malady.* The cause of the resistance is, 
according to Freud's opinion, fear of the father, defiance and 
distrust toward him.f But of this, we need not speak here. 
It is sufficient proof of the existence of the resistance to point 
out that one may often succeed in finding the motive for resist- 
ance analytically, and in eliminating therewith, the obstacles to 
the return of the repressed material to consciousness, so that 
the flow of communications suddenly breaks forth with force. 
We know for a certainty that the power which hinders the free 
speaking out to the analyst is simultaneously the jailer of the 
complex, only against the analyst, special forms of resistance 
appear. If Kronfeld misses the proof of this assertion,! then 
he must make the acquaintance of the fact of the transference 
from his own contemplation and pass from the study of books 
to direct observation. 

By the help of the resistance, a censoring activity is now 
exercised. Freud even speaks of "the censor" as if it were 
a force endowed with special powers. At the boundary be- 
tween the conscious and unconscious activity, he assumes a 
censor which admits only what is pleasing to it and represses 
the rest. In sleep or under other conditions, the balance of 
power between the two conditions (consciousness and uncon- 
scious) changes, so that the repressed material can no longer 
be entirely held back. In this stage, the censor is not entirely 
removed but nevertheless changed.il The sleeping state lowers 
the power of the intrapsychic censor.lf 

* Freud, iJber Psychotherapie. Kl. Schriften I, p. 209. Die Freud- 
sche psa. Methode. I, p. 221. Tatbestandsdiagnostik u. Psa. Kl. 
Schriften II, p. 120. iJber "wilde Psa." Zbl. I, p. 94. 

t Freud, Die zukiinft. Chancen der Psa. Zbl. I, p. 4. 

t Kronfeld, ij. d. psycholog. Theorien Freuds u. verwandte Anschau- 
ungen (In book form), p. 104. 

II Freud, tJber den Traum. ( Grenzf ragen ) Wiesbaden, 1901, p. 339, 

ii Tratundeutung, p. 351. 



170 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Kovacs uses the expression ' ' censor ' ' in about the Freudian 
sense, "namely, as the name for a process of discrimination 
which seeks to adapt the ideas and affects to the conditions of 
a cultivated human being and to repress those unsuitable to 
society. ' ' * On the other hand, it is to be emphasized that con- 
science and the demands of society are not entirely the same. 
An ethically independent character will very often be in posi- 
tion to repress the socially suitable. 

Jung originally denied the censor. t Later, he said : "The 
censor is nothing else than the resistance which prevents us 
from carrying out a consideration uniformly, day by day, to 
the end. The censor allows an idea to pass only when it is 
so clothed that the dreamer cannot recognize it again. ' ' % 
Thereby, the censor is eliminated as a function. Likewise, 
Bleuler would replace it by the more general term of inhibi- 
tion by counter-striving affective necessities. || 

According to Silberer 's view, we are not dealing with a con- 
tradiction between Freud and Bleuler-Jung but only with the 
difference between the teleological and causal methods of con- 
sideration.lF Without doubt, he is right, since Freud derives 
his "censor" from the balance of power of the factors of 
repression. The name is purely a figurative expression and 
includes those functions of repression which exist in the 
struggle for the protection of consciousness from unpleasant 
excitation. Since in sleep, the apperception relaxes, the re- 
sistance and therewith the censoring faculty can undergo a 
diminution. 

3. The Constitution 

It is unjust to reproach Freud with having overlooked the 
hereditary endowment. Of course, he limits the convenient 
asylum of ignorance of the hereditary predisposition, and 
where the analogy between parents and child makes easy the 

* Kovacs, Introjektion, Projektion und Einfiihlung. Zbl. II, p. 258. 

t Jung, Psychologie der Dementia prfecox, p. 76. 

t Jung, L'analyse des R^ves. L'ann^e psychologique, A. XV, p. 163. 

II Bleuler, Die Psychoanalyse Freuds. Jahrb II, p. 727. 

if Herbert Silberer, tjber die Symbolbildung. H, III, p. 693. 



EFFECT OF HEREDITY 171 

assumption of an hereditary relation, he points out with sharp 
criticism the exogenous connections. The pedagogues will be 
only grateful to him for this service. 

Even in his earliest works (1895), the father of psycho- 
analysis stated heredity as a condition of anxiety-neurosis.* 
Gradually, he estimated the constitutional factor still higher. 
In 1896, he found heredity an indispensable prerequisite in 
the majority of cases of severe neurosis but not as determining 
the form of the malady, f In 1905, he considered the heredi- 
tary predisposition as indispensable.^ In 1912, he defended 
himself against the criticism of having denied the importance 
of inborn (constitutional) factors because he emphasized the 
infantile impressions. "Psychoanalysis has said much con- 
cerning the accidental factors of the etiology, little concerning 
the constitutional, but only because it could bring something 
new to the former, while concerning the latter, on the other 
hand, it knew no more than was already known." || "The 
psychoanalytic investigation has enabled us to point out the 
neurotic disposition in the evolutionary history of the libido 
and to trace this disposition in its active factors back to inborn 
varieties of the psychosexual constitution and influences of 
the outer world experienced in early childhood. ' ' IF Among the 
inborn variations of the sexual constitution, he conceives "a 
preponderance of this or that one of the manifold sources of 
sexual excitement. " § At all events, lues in the father 
strongly predisposes to neurosis.** 

Jung lays the emphasis on the more or less developed ability 
to continue the course of development prescribed by the inner 
peculiarity and outer relations, in spite of the sacrifice de- 
manded by it. 

* Freud, Zur Kritik der "Angstneurose." Kl. Sehriften I, p. 109 ff. 
t Freud, L'lieredite et I'etiologie des nevroses. Kl. Schr. I, p. 139. 
Compare p. 199. 

t Freud, Bruchstiick einer Hysterie- Analyse. Kl. Schr. II, p. 14. 
II Freud, Zur Dynamik der tJbertragung. Zbl. II, p. 167. 
1[ Freud, tJber neurot. Erkrankungstypen. Zbl. II, p. 297. 
§ Freud, Drei Abh. p. 80. 
** Same. 



172 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Adler considers the inferiority of an organ as constitutional 
cause of the neurosis : ' ' The digestive apparatus, the respiratory 
organs, the heart, the skin, the sexual apparatus, the motor 
organs, the sense organs and the pain paths become thrown 
into excitement according to their fitness for the expression of 
the wish for power, and show the forms of hostile, aggressive 
attack or of quiescence and of flight, inhibition of aggression, 
both in harmony with the ' ' vital line ' ' of the patient, with his 
secret life plan. To give in brief some examples of organ 
dialect: Scorn can come to expression by the refusal of nor- 
mal functions, envy and desire by pain, ambition by sleepless- 
ness, thirst for power by oversensitiveness, by anxiety and by 
organic nervous maladies. " * To put it differently, from the 
experience of an inferior organ, there follows a feeling of 
inferiority which must be removed by aggressive endeavor. 
From this attitude, follow forced strivings toward strengthen- 
ing of the value of the personality and from these forced efforts, 
the neurosis proceeds. We have discussed this theory and its 
exaggeration by Adler on page 139. 

* Adler, Organdialekt., Monatsh, f . Pad. u. Schulreform IV Year, 
(1912), p. 325. 



' SECTION 2 

THE RETROGRESSIONS OF THE REPRES- 
SION, FIXATION AND REPULSION 

(THE MANIFESTATIONS) 

CHAPTER IX 
THE PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS 

1. Symptoms 

The repression does not occasion the submergence below 
the threshold of consciousness of an idea actually thought but 
rather the restriction of an instinct in a certain place, so that 
as a result of this restriction, certain ideas become incapable 
of coming into consciousness and in addition, the further nor- 
mal development of that instinct is inhibited within a certain 
domain. Thus far, we speak of a fixation of instinct. 

There is, however, no absolute quiescence of the instincts. 
If normal activity is denied them, they grow in an abnormal 
direction. Thus, by the repression and fixation, the instincts 
are deflected into paths deviating from the original direction 
and driven to new creations. We call these new formations, 
manifestations. 

Under manifestations, I understand all phenomena which 
psychoanalysis shows to be direct effects of the repressed and 
fixed unconscious. 

The fact that repression shows itself in a physical symptom, 
Breuer and Freud expressed in the formula : ' ' The excitation 
proceeding from the affective idea becomes converted into a 
physical phenomenon." * Breuer 's supposition that the foun- 

* Studien uber Hysterie, p. 180. 

173 



174 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

dation and condition of hysteria may be the existence of hyp- 
noidal (sleeplike) states,* was soon given up by Freud. In 
place of these states, there were other conditions which we have 
already brought to the reader's attention. On the other hand, 
the riddle, why psychic processes can occasion physical ones, 
remains unsolved. The name "conversion" presupposes a 
transformation of psychic energy into physical energy, in which 
we, the followers of psychophysical parallelism, cannot believe. 
The thing itself is not a whit more enigmatical than the rela- 
tionship between processes of will and action. In addition, 
I call attention to the fact that all pathological physical reac- 
tions to mental impressions are denoted as hysterical. 

Some physicians gave themselves endless trouble to collect 
and describe the symptoms of hysteria. Naturally, it is im- 
possible to conceive of completeness in this symptomatology 
and further, nothing would be gained by it. The same signs 
of illness may owe their origin to the most diverse mental con- 
flicts. "We educators are primarily interested only in the most 
important of the external characteristics but on the other 
hand, because of our profession, we are very eager to recognize 
the mental backgound. It should be remembered that we 
trouble ourselves concerning the bodily injuries only because 
they form the tell-tale signal of a mental complication which 
is of highest importance for the utilization of the intellectual, 
esthetic, religious and ethical powers and for the development 
of the whole character and because we cannot possibly solve 
the educational problem without also eliminating at the same 
time the physical suffering. 

I shall refer first to some of the physical marks of hysteria 
which we have recognized so far. We will group them as 
motor, vasomotor and sensory phenomena and distinguish func- 
tional increase and decrease. 

A. Motor Phenomena : 

(a) Increased: clucking (33), twitching in the cheeks (41), 
asthmatic dyspnea (68), tic of eyelid (74), comTilsions in the 
arm (123). 

* Studien iiber Hysterie, p. 9. 



PHYSICAL HYSTERICAL SYMPTOMS 175 

(b) Decreased: dumbness, astasia (31), stuttering (84), 
writer's cramp (88), paralysis (90). 

B. Vasomotor Symptoms: 

Swollen lips (32), skin eruption (34). These examples 
contain only a small part of my observations. 

C. Sensory Symptoms: 

(a) Hyperesthesias: Migraine with feeling of hair being 
pulled out (32), itching of scalp (34), temporal migraine 
(35), two crowns of thorns (36), visions (angel, devil, 
Schleiermaeher) (37), buzzing in the ear (41), innervations 
in the arm (44), tactile hallucinations in the hands and feet 
(81), neuralgia (98), pains in the arm, leg and back (126), 
in the shoulder (132), in stomach (142). 

(b) Hypesthesias : Dimness of vision (31), deafness 
(34). 

Since the sensory deficiencies and vasomotor symptoms were 
shown somewhat scantily, I shall give some further illustra- 
tions : 

A patient of twenty-two years, who will come before us 
often again — we have already made his acquaintance as an 
asthmatic (68) — has suffered for some years from severe 
near-sightedness, although the physicians could find no my- 
opia. A slight clouding of the cornea bears no relation to the 
visual defect as will soon show. The youth greatly fears 
becoming totally blind. Asked concerning the outbreak of 
the trouble, the patient recalled that he had first noticed the 
disturbance when he mistook an approaching trolley car with 
two signal targets for two men. (We recall here that the 
steam roller represented the father panting from coitus.) 
When the latter had discovered from traces in the closet the 
masturbation of his son, he had whipped him in great wrath 
and shouted at him: "You will become blind, you already 
have closed eyes, you pig ! ' ' The threat was occasionally re- 
peated. Soon thereafter, the visual power diminished and 
the compulsion to look at himself continually in the mirror 
began, along with many other symptoms. Immediately after 
the disclosure of this fact, the young man, who had previously 



176 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

worn strong and still stronger eyeglasses, read small print at 
a distance of one meter without lenses and some days later, 
laid aside the glasses entirely. 

A man of about forty complained to me that for some time 
he had entirely lost the sensation in one big toe. His wife had 
previously been under my pastoral care suffering with distaste 
for life and irritability. I knew therefore that her last par- 
turition had been accompanied by danger to her life and that 
she resisted sexual intercourse. I had referred her in this 
matter to the family doctor who assured her that there was 
no certain means of preventing conception except refraining 
from intercourse. Under such circumstances, it was not easy 
to cure the wife by way of sublimation (see below) and at the 
same time, her husband was importunate. "What kind of a 
meaning the anesthesia of the toe had is at once clear to us 
if we remember its symbolical significance : Phidias engraved 
the name of Phryne on the great toe of Zeus.* The anesthesia 
of the toe symbolized masculine frigidity and served also for 
the subliminal refusal of this. That atrophy of the spinal 
cord was not present is shown by the fact that for more than 
three years sensation in the toe has been present again ; other, 
milder nervous phenomena predominate. I advised the man 
to consult a neurologist but he did not take my advice. An 
analysis was not performed. 

That the unconscious manifests itself in physical expressions 
which are neither connected with familiar motor nor with 
sensory nerve functions, we know from the history of religion 
and hypnosis. One may recall the monks with stigmata 
(Francis of Assisi) and nuns with bloody sweat. Analogous 
phenomena have been brought about by hypnotism, t Hys- 

* Compare in this connection, Jung, Wandlungen u. Symbole der 
Libido. Jahrb. IV, p. 166. L. Binswanger, Analyse einer hyster. 
Phobie. Jahrb. Ill, p. 302 ff. ( Folk-psychological references in Aigre- 
mont, Fuss- und Schuhsymbolik und -erotik, Leipzig, 1909; the phallic 
significance of the foot is here demonstrated without analysis, likewise 
by Kleinpaul, Das Leben der Sprache, Vol. II, p. 490, cited by Stekel, 
Die Sprache des Traumes, Wiesbaden 1911, 7. 

I Forel, Hypnotismus, p. 27, 



HYSTERICAL SYMPTOMS 177 

teria, nevertheless, proceeds gradually beyond hypnotic vaso- 
motor symptoms. 

The girl with swollen lips (32) did the following trick: 
informed concerning the nature of her comical symptom, she 
resolutely undertook the treatment of her mother one day. 
According to her report, her mother recalled that she had suf- 
fered since her eighteenth year from a painful swelling on the 
tongue which had resisted all medical treatment, as also had 
been the case for a long time with her seventeen-year-old son. 
Now came the question whether this trouble might not perhaps 
be of hysterical nature. The mother reported that in her time, 
one rather thought of an infection, still it could scarcely have 
been such. Shortly before the onset of the swelling, a friend 
of her brother, who was suffering from the same trouble, had 
been in her house, yet he had neither touched with his tongue 
an eating instrument nor any other object. Triumphantly, 
the daughter, who was accustomed to use a very unceremonious 
tone, called out: "Aha! You have identified yourself with 
the young man, you were in love with him!" Now, this 
method of treatment was not even analytically correct. Still, 
it sufficed to dislodge the old trouble and the son promptly 
followed the example of his mother by eating.* 

Besides undoubted "automatic" signs, there are some in 
which a part of the unconscious motive passes over into con- 
sciousness so that one might speak of semi-automatisms if the 
analysis had not displaced that term which cuts the causal 
connections in the wrong place. 

A girl of thirteen and one half years was attacked with 
trembling. Sixteen months later, she entered one of my 
classes with increased symptoms. She was unable to give any- 
one her hand and touched only the outermost finger-tips to 
draw them back very quickly. She could walk only in dancing 
steps, with hands raised, as if she were in a minuet. Street 
urchins often imitated her in derision. In one of her first 

* The young man who exerts himself against the analysis, is also a 
clever imitator. When his sister injured her foot, he awoke the fol- 
lowing night with severe pain in his foot. 



178 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

years of life, the girl had lost her father and acquired a step- 
father whom she hated from her earliest days because of his 
severity. An uncle struck her on the back when she was four 
years old. When seven years of age, she had anxiety-dreams 
without telling of what she was afraid. In school, she was 
laughed at as a foreigner because of her speech, to which she 
reacted with immeasurable hate. Further she detested her 
mother. Some months before the outbreak of the tremors, she 
dreamed that as she was standing in a room, a knife was thrown 
at her through the open door by a workman. The man who 
did this, strongly resembled the wicked uncle who had chastised 
her and thereby plainly awakened sexual emotions. As every 
analyst knows from a mass of proof, knife and door signify 
masculine and feminine symbols (see below Chapter XI). 
Thus the girl wished a sexual attack from the uncle who stood 
for the stepfather. Details of the dream, she refused to give. 
The nervous malady broke out when the hysterical girl had got 
into strife with her only friend and all the girls expressed their 
displeasure in strong form. Two weeks after the trembling 
which accompanied the wrath phantasy, the dancing appeared. 
At that time, the little one received a visit from a brother, ten 
years older, who formed a positive (beloved) father substitute. 
The brother reported that his child had St. Vitus' dance, per- 
haps his sister might have it also. The hysterical girl imagined 
the chorea as a real dance. She had wished for a long time 
to be able to dance. From the newspaper, she was familiar 
with the positions in the minuet dance which she had assumed. 
During the dancing, she was afraid of falling. 

Striking was the love of finery of the homely girl, as well 
as her longing for caresses which she boldly sought for. 

The meaning and connection of the symptoms are fairly 
clear: The girl did not know how to bring her love intelli- 
gently into use, since she had fallen out with parents and play- 
mates, had to renounce the love of her married brother and in 
her love-making was too little successful. After the damming 
up of the homoerotic instinctive activity, a physical symptom 
appeared which was directed into a new path by further de- 



PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS 179 

terminants. The girl identified herself with the brother's 
child which had St. Vitus' dance; the brother, she raised to 
father and realized in hysterical manner her wish to dance. 
The position of her hands expressed however, two other ten- 
dencies: the intention of protecting herself from falling (mor- 
ally) and the resistance against shaking hands. The wishes 
to fall and to be loved were repressed. 

The analysis was not carried to completion since the girl 
plainly concealed energetically a part of her secrets; she en- 
tered the class of a minister who was making arrangements to 
apply psychoanalysis in a pastoral way. So far as I was con- 
cerned, I succeeded in stopping the dancing. The hatred of 
men and its symbol, the refusal to shake hands, persisted. The 
analysis did not come to pass, unfortunately, although the girl 
was earnestly urged thereto. A half year later, I saw the 
girl strolling with a peasant at a late hour under suspicious 
circumstances. What has become of the young coquette, I 
do not know, as she went away. I fear she will be dragged 
down to the depths by her untrained sensuality. 

As foundation for physical manifestations, we often recog- 
nize a certain bodily weakness as for example in the following 
case : 

A girl of nineteen has suffered for three years with some 
remissions, for one and one half years constantly, from a very 
severe, barking cough, against which the physicians can ac- 
complish nothing. Upon questioning, I learned the following : 
A year after the beginning of her illness, the girl left her birth- 
place and moved into a pension where she was hospitably re- 
ceived. Soon, the cough ceased, to recur with rather lessened 
force when two other girls entered and took the lead as fa- 
vorites. After the rivals had gone, the cough also disappeared 
completely. After a short time came the death of her dearest 
relative, the only one by whom she felt herself understood. 
From that time till the analysis, the cough dominated; the 
analysis eliminated the cough in two sessions and in some 
further ones, the ethical inhibition as well. The girl had a 
number of painful experiences and phantasies which concerned 



180 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

the parents, had repressed these and was prejudiced by the 
mood so created. The strongest impression had been made 
by the idea that in her twelfth year, a harmless love had been 
rudely destroyed. Even at that time, she said : ' ' Father and 
mother do not love me, they wish I were dead. ' ' Four years 
later, she suffered from an acute bronchitis with much cough. 
As no one sent her to the physician or to bed, she thought she 
possessed absolute proof that her death was wished for and 
revelled in the idea that it would be discovered too late how 
much she had been misunderstood. Whenever the parent- 
complex ruled, the coughing broke out, as if to say: "It is 
again as at that time when I was seriously ill and no one 
bothered about me." The masochistic death-wish came to ex- 
pression. Now we understand also why the cough, which went 
parallel to the attitude toward the environment, ceased under 
friendly treatment and appeared when she was put in the 
background. 

How the denial of the suicidal thoughts was very prettily 
unmasked by the association-experiment, I will show later. 

The patient at first resisted the treatment with the hypo- 
critical pretext that she was being punished by God, in reality, 
however, because she would not renounce her hysterical gain 
of pleasure and particularly the hatred of her parents, I 
showed her this condition of affairs and her foolishness and 
after a few consultations attained not only the stopping of 
the cough but also a favorable change in her ethical relation. 

This observation teaches us that a real organic disease can 
be taken over by the unconscious and continued on its own 
account.* Much more often, nevertheless, the reverse takes 
place, an illness which is apparently of undoubted organic 
origin, is traced back to nothing but mental causes. On this 
point, the physicians may discuss more profitably. I mention 
only a very frequent occurrence which happens to us educa- 
tors. 

Often, we have to deal with pupils who suffer from fatigue. 

* We also saw organic inferiority as a disposing cause of hysteria 
on page 96, 



CONVULSIVE LAUGHTER AND WEEPING 181 

The physician is accustomed to allow them to leave school and 
sends them to the country, from which they return, sometimes 
improved and sometimes unimproved. In the process, much 
time is lost and the exhaustion soon returns. How many a 
career has been cruelly blasted as a result ! Physicians trained 
in psychoanalysis have noted that a great part of the tired 
pupils suffer only from mental conflicts. I, too, have obtained 
such results. 

A talented girl of sixteen years, from North Germany, suf- 
fered for a year and a half from great lassitude and for the 
same length of time from convulsive laughter and weeping. 
It was also impossible for her to have wool or silk touch her. 
Previously she had suffered from somnambulism: she some- 
times twisted her underclothes into cords and laid them on 
the floor. 

The first convulsion came when one of her brothers snatched 
away some little thing which she had wanted to eat. The affect 
surprised and provoked the girl so much the more since she was 
not at all selfish. Another time, she asked her neighbor during 
the study-hour to make a D in round script. The other wrote 
instead of that, ' ' Du, ' ' whereupon the convulsion with laughter 
set in and then passed into weeping. The analysis revealed at 
first that the fear was present that she would be written 
blockhead ("Dummkopf") or something similar. The very 
next session elucidated the anxiety: When a small child, our 
patient was called "Dummerchen" (little stupid) because she 
allowed everything to be taken from her without resistance by 
her brother, two years older than herself. The nickname be- 
came indeed her constant name. The intelligent little person 
did not seem to know stronger affects at all, at least she yielded 
quietly to being plundered. That in reality, powerful emo- 
tions were present in the depths, the future made plain. Most 
striking was the absence of emotional reaction when the little 
brother perished: he snatched an object from the hand of 
his three year old sister in the laundry and in so doing, 
stumbled into a tub of hot water. Eight days later, our 
patient stood beside her brother's corpse without showing 



182 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

inner excitement. The pantomime carried out in somnam- 
bulism repeated the fateful scene under motives which we can 
now give only hypothetically : The girl suffered still from 
the feeling of being slighted, which, according to information 
furnished by her mother, had actually taken place in the early 
years of childhood, and repressed the wish arising from the 
unconscious that again, an event like that earlier one might 
remove her rival. Thereby, during all the years, the memory 
of the catastrophe was blotted out. Her mother's narrative 
first refreshed her memory but not for the tragic affair, merely 
for the harmless play which had taken place between them 
shortly before. 

The analysis of the touching-phobia, we will describe later. 
Its result was as follows: The patient saw unconsciously in 
every bit of. woolen underwear, the underclothing of the 
scalded little brother, in every silken stuff, the garment worn 
by an old lady who was present at the funeral. The feeling of 
inferiority was repeatedly satisfied in sadistic wishes. 

The life of the well endowed girl was plainly centered about 
the overcoming of the inferiority, in which the strong pressure 
by feelings of helplessness was inhibited. Her relations to- 
ward the members of her family were entirely correct. As 
consciousness of helplessness, however, allowed no protest to 
come forward when she was slighted, there constantly resulted 
the regression to the neurosis and her vindictive wrath. The 
convulsions expressed joy in injury and anger which alter- 
nated that each might break out so much the more violently. 
I call this phenomenon, which is often found in hysteria, the 
polarization of antagonistic instinctive tendencies.* 

The lassitude decreased, like all the other symptoms, after 
a few hours of analysis. It was a result of the severe, dimly 
recognized mental struggle and probably might also console 
when the results did not fully correspond to the ambitious 
efforts, t After my pedagogic efforts, the strikingly monoto- 

* Compare my article: Hysterie und Mystik bei Marg. Ebner (1291- 
1351). Zbl. I, p. 484. 

^ For another example of psychogenic fatigue, see below, page 197- 



EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ASSOCIATIONS 183 

nous, poor-in-affect speech changed remarkably. The young 
girl realized much better how to express herself and took an 
honorable place in her class. In brief, she defended her rights 
courageously. Her attitude toward life became excellent. 

2, The External and Internal Associations in the 
Manifestation Process 

The representation of the physical hysterical symptom pro- 
ceeds along two paths, namely, by that of the inner or outer 
association or by both together. Often, the manifestation re- 
produces simply one scene, the renewing of which by a present 
experience, is rendered desirable. A recent occasion repro- 
duces a similar previous occurrence which makes the present 
situation appear in consoling light or else contains a relation 
to the present. Now an earlier situation is revived, now it is 
expressed by this: ''It is again as at that time, when the 
event, which comes to expression here, occurred, ' ' the present 
recreates from the past, courage, guidance and hope for the 
future. In this process, the only absolute essential is that the 
connection between manifestation and complex may not become 
conscious. If this should happen, then the secret which oc- 
casioned the disguise, would be disclosed. Naturally, only a 
small group of characteristics from an earlier event can be 
reproduced. 

Such reproduction-symptoms are exceedingly frequent. 
"We have already found them many times (for example on 
pages 32, 44, 86) . I will add a few other cases : 

The girl mentioned on page 179, who allowed the complex 
to come to expression through the secret speech of the cough, 
suffered, after the cure of her violent barking, as for years 
before, from migraine which she would not place at my dis- 
posal. Finally, she concluded to sacrifice the private cult 
which she practiced at the altar of hysteria. Questioned con- 
cerning the first appearance of the trouble, she said that at 
the time of the first migraine, she had menstruated for the 
first time, but because her father, mother and some brothers 
and sisters were confined to bed with influenza, she had nursed 



184 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

her family in spite of the violent headache, while other girls 
were granted rest and protection under these circumstances. 
At present, the girl suffers under the often heard reproach 
that she is lazy and does nothing for her family. This unjust 
accusation, however, always produces migraine. In this way, 
the patient plainly revives that period during which she dis- 
tinguished herself by heroic self-sacrifice and extraordinary 
industry, while the cough illustrates the meanness of her 
parents during the illness of their daughter. Both symptoms 
are, therefore, as is constantly the case, internally united. 
From the hour of this none-too-deep exploration, the headache 
remained absent. 

A pupil of seventeen years, brought to my pastoral treat- 
ment by melancholia, blushed every moment or so, on the left 
half of his face, especially his ear. This phenomenon reminded 
him of a box on the ear which he had received from his father, 
the last time, a half year previously. At that time, he wished 
to run away from the parental roof and would have done so if 
his father had not turned him back. In the analysis, he now 
substituted me in the role of father, for reasons of transference 
to be discussed below. My command to speak corresponded to 
the earlier efforts of the father to get a secret from his son. 
The blushing corresponded to the wish that I, too, would be 
rough like the father, then the patient might run away from 
me or humiliate me. The symptom (erythromania) disap- 
peared at once. 

An hysterical man of twenty-two years suffered among other 
things from prickling sensations in the right half of the face. 
One proceeded from the teeth perpendicularly upwards, the 
other from the temple horizontally toward the parietal region. 
Both sensations go back to brutal punishment by the father, 
A band about a hand's breadth wide presses on the patient's 
neck and back after the midday meal. The jugulars swell and 
threaten to burst. Wlien the youth was still a child, the father 
compelled him to rest on a couch after meals, shoved a cushion 
under his neck and loin regions and bent the head violently 
backward. In the new formations, the patient continually 



SYMBOLICAL REPRESENTATION 185 

seeks new material for sweet phantasies of revenge and yet 
wishes at the same time to experience the father's affection. 
These phenomena also disappeared at the moment of the 
analysis. 

Frequently, however, the symptom forms, not a mere repro- 
duction, but a new formation and indeed a symbolical repre- 
sentation of an idea. Here, an inner association between re- 
pressed material and symptom takes place. Examples of this, 
we have already met in great numbers. I refer to the dumb- 
ness, the hanging by a thread (31), the clucking (33), the 
Imaginary piece of coal in the eye (75), the crown of thorns 
(36), the anesthetic toe (176), etc. 

Being partial to pedagogic material, I shall describe a few 
more cases which will show external and internal psychological 
productions of hysteria. 

The teacher who had sent me his pupil afflicted with paralyses 
and convulsions (86), consulted me for a far more severe 
case. The twelve year old girl, who was the patient, had suf- 
fered now for the third time, from phenomena which the physi- 
cian pronounced St. Vitus ' dance (chorea) . "When seven years 
old, the child had a disturbance of writing, her hand began to 
tremble, soon the foot became restless, and with her hands, 
she pulled and tugged at the persons who would hold her. In 
her tenth year, the trouble which had disappeared after some 
weeks, returned in greater violence. The tongue could no 
longer be moved. A course of baths brought improvement, 
still the speech and writing remained greatly inhibited. A 
full year, school had to be given up. Five weeks ago, came 
the third and by far most severe outbreak. The well developed, 
but strikingly pale child displayed a far-reaching hysteria. 
Without cessation, she swung the distorted arms, of which, 
the right had become weak, the upper body turned hither and 
thither, the knees often gave way, the face continually made 
grimaces: the mouth drew apart, saliva was automatically 
forced between the teeth, the eyes winked abnormally often, 
the nose and brow were wrinkled. If the child wished to 
grasp an object, she invariably struck beside it. Spoons, pens. 



186 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

playthings, etc., were flung away ; writing was not to be thought 
of. Drinking from a cup was also impossible. The tongue 
was often so paralyzed that no word could be spoken. Con- 
vulsive laughter and weeping frequently appeared. 

In addition, there were mental anomalies, of which, I must 
mention at least the severe anxiety which had for years com- 
pelled her to look under the bed. 

It is not possible to give in brief form more than the most 
important determinants of such a wide-spread hysteria. I 
could not find them all, since the child, although I avoided 
suggestion as much as possible in the interest of a thorough 
treatment, had lost all symptoms after eight sessions. Such 
an outcome is very pleasant for the patient ; the analyst who 
would like to throw light on all peculiarities feels unsatisfied, 
however, since he can explain many traits only ex analogia. 

The first attack, which was essentially in the form of writer 's 
cramp, was little elucidated : the child wrote poorly. At home, 
she excused herself by saying that her neighbor constantly 
puUed at her arm. Before she entered school, she had long 
had anxiety, with which she had long been inoculated. Con- 
siderable sexual traumata had preceded. The disturbance of 
writing corresponded every time to a strong wish to be freed 
from school and to be excused for bad penmanship. 

/The second outbreak resulted again in a cessation of the 
school-life. The teacher was a coarse, punishing pedagogue 
who openly said that the children should not divulge what took 
place in the school-room, especially if a child was whipped. 
Our patient although intelligent, was often struck, but did not 
venture to complain to her parents. The anxiety became con- 
stantly stronger. The stern man could not sing well. The 
spaces between his teeth rendered his enunciation difficult. 
If the frightened children did not sing correctly, they were 
treated to the violin bow. Many of them suffered from in- 
hibitions of speech. Once, the children had to name the doors. 
One could not, because of fright, get the words ' ' Zwei Aborte ' ' 
(two water-closets) beyond the lips. In that locality, for- 
bidden things had taken place, in which our hysterical patient 



ORIGIN OF HYSTERIA IN A CHILD 187 

liad had a share. The latter was, therefore, likewise inhibited 
from speaking the words and received her flogging. Again, 
the girl wished to seek protection from her parents but was 
afraid of the vengeance of the tormentor. That since that 
time, the habit of looking under the bed has prevailed, discloses 
that a sexual inhibition must also have existed. 

The last and severest illness occurred after the girl had been 
punished for masturbation by the mother, an otherwise sensible 
and affectionate woman. Even before the first attack of ill- 
ness, the child had once received some slaps because she had 
asked her mother whence the children came. Without 
doubt, this mistake had shared in the malady with strong 
effect. During this report, the patient excreted a striking 
amount of saliva. A strong homosexual compensation had 
occurred: The child wished constantly to be taken into bed 
with the mother. By sleeplessness, she really attained this 
object of being kept the whole night by the mother. 

Merely the opportunity of being allowed to confide these 
tormenting thoughts to the mother and me exercised a quieting 
action. Once when she had not been able to go to sleep, she 
had dictated to her mother the following little song which she 
had learned from a companion at school : 

"Mother, mother, what is that 

Which crawls in my belly ? " 
"Child, that I cannot tell you, 

You must first ask your father!" 

Similarly run the following lines, only here the doctor and 
midwife are the subjects ; the midwife answers: 

"Child, this I can tell you, 
To-morrow you will have young, 
One dead, the other blind, 
One with a hole in the head." * 

Craftily the girl sought to retain her evil habit. Both be- 
fore and during the illness, a violent twitching of the part 

* It is remarkable how often those children who are not correctly 
enlightened, fall into bloody sadisticism. 



1^ THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

in question would occur. Making clear the meaning of this 
attempt at extortion sufficed to eliminate it at once. 

The gimaces signified, among other things, in teeth-showing, 
derision of the toothless teacher and suppression of the sexual 
secret. The winking of the eyes referred to the repression of 
the sexual pleasure in looking (Schaulust) which was ever very- 
keen. The grasping near objects showed on harmless objects 
what would happen toward dangerous ones. The objects 
hurled away called forth by symbolic meaning anxiety for 
touching things. The swinging of the arms proved to be 
composite : One motion was forward and ended in a menac- 
ing movement outward. Asked to think of this, the girl re- 
called that her grandmother once said that if one cannot speak, 
someone is plaguing him.* This someone was to be warded 
off by the gesture. Other determinants were added: When 
one and one half or two years of age, the child was lifted 
out of bed by the hands and suffered a slight dislocation. This 
information was given by the mother who was present during 
the whole analysis. Another time the father lifted his daugh- 
ter by the hands and likewise caused a dislocation. Further, 
the refractory child did not wish to extend her hand to the bad 
teacher. Finally, she wished to protect herself from falling 
(compare page 179). 

The following case describes an analytic experiment which 
was only partially successful: Into my pastoral care, there 
came a high grade imbecile boy, fifteen years of age, hysterical, 
who has been subject to convulsions in the arms and legs for 
eighteen months. Many times, for an hour, his feet twisted 
inward, then outward, his arms were drawn back at the elbow 
at the same time, the hands remaining beside the chest. A 
four months' residence in a sanitarium for nervous diseases 
had brought no improvement. 

The convulsive attitudes proved to be determined by external 
and internal associations. They referred to scenes which the 
boy wished subliminally, but consciously refused. He be- 
longed to a gang of boys, thirteen to fifteen years of age, who 

•Beautiful peasant psychology! 



HYSTERIA IN AN IMBECILE 189 

had banded together for the purpose of sexual orgies and who 
had not even refrained from pederasty. They were fond of 
amusing themselves with obscene marching practices. Once 
they imitated a cripple whose feet were twisted inward. In 
so doing, they held each other by the genitals. Our patient 
advised against this practice since it was not right to mock a 
cripple. Another time, the youths imitated hopping birds by 
turning the feet outwards and again using forbidden holds 
with the hands. A man saw this and pursued the boys who 
fled. Thus, we understand that the patient on the one hand 
wished for the sexual scenes again, among all of which, how- 
ever, he chose those in convulsions in which he played the 
finest role and escaped successfully from the scrape. 

Therewith, however, only the outermost stratum is revealed. 
The dreams lead much deeper. Since we are not yet familiar 
with dream-formation, I have thus far given very few dream 
analyses, although in so doing I must have awakened an in- 
correct impression of the course of analytic work and one soon 
to be corrected. At this point, however, I cannot avoid giving 
a short dream interpretation. For many years, our hysterical 
patient has dreamed, with slight variations, something like the 
following : 

' ' Someone crawls from under my bed. I spring upon him, 
he seizes me, I fall back and go to sleep. He wishes to run 
away, I again spring on him, a chase ensues and I call out; 
father and mother rush after the enemy with sticks and brooms. 
I seize the revolver which he left lying under the bed and 
spring after the intruder. I pursue him, striking him on the 
back, to the police-station; we all go home and lie down to 
sleep. I awaken with anxiety that someone is crawling from 
under my bed. ' ' 

This hysterical patient also looked under the bed every 
night. The man in the dream held his arms in crawling as 
the dreamer does during his convulsion. The intruder was 
described as thin, clumsy, dark, of medium stature. This is the 
way his god-father appears, as the association now says. This 
person lacked a finger joint. Once, my patient hallucinated 



190 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

this uncanny man as creeping forth from under his bed. The 
assailant in the dream seized the sleeper to tickle him under 
the arms and lower rib borders, as his father often did in play 
of an evening. Also, the father's hands in so doing assume 
the attitude which appears automatically in the convulsion. 
Clearly, the crawling figure is meant to portray the father. 
The severed finger joint of the god-father which figured in one 
place, betrays a castration thought. The attitude of crouch- 
ing on the elbows is also that of a person during coitus. The 
son imitates in his automatism the father and pursues him from 
the house in the dream as a sexual criminal with the aid of the 
asexual father. The blows which the fugitive receives, reminds 
our hero of those which he himself received. To this, comes 
another plot: The dreamer had read, shortly before the 
hallucination, of a murderer who lurked under the bed. 
Hence he phantasied himself in this role. At that time, he 
threatened his brother that he would strike him dead, for 
which, he was whipped by his father. Further, the repressed 
wish to destroy his brother, also exists in the symptom. Later 
when the convulsion had already occurred, still other phan- 
tasies were added : He gave to the man lying on his elbows, 
the face of a coal carrier who had asked him the way to the 
cellar. The position of the arms of the sack bearer, in its 
sexual symbolic meaning, thus strengthened the symptom. 

After the first sessions, the contractures lessened to a mini- 
mum. Then a resistance asserted itself which I could not 
overcome. The boy refused to give information, his defects in 
intelligence probably served the repression in good stead. 
Hence, the convulsions became greater, but at their greatest, 
did not attain the intensity and frequency which they had 
had for the eighteen months preceding the treatment, I hoped 
to be able to analyze the boy completely later and spared the 
extremely tiresome work only for the time being. Unfor- 
tunately, after some weeks, the boy left my place of residence. 

In conclusion, it should be remembered that normal in- 
dividuals also very frequently show a slight physical mani- 
festation. A minor or major headache or stomachache, a mild 



PSYCHOGENESIS OF PHYSICAL DISORDERS 191 

intestinal catarrh, a mild insomnia and similar incidents of 
psychogenic nature (mental origin) are thousandfold and be- 
long to the every-day phenomena which may be eliminated by 
a little occasional analysis (often by autoanalysis). Who is 
not a little bit nervous? The famous neurologist, Mobius, 
asserts in all seriousness that every person has hysterical symp- 
toms and no one has contradicted him. 



CHAPTER X 
THE MOST IMPORTANT PSYCHIC PATHS 

Every repression restricts an instinct in such a manner 
that its activity in reality is rendered permanently impossible 
to a lesser or greater extent. Often, the inhibition of the 
instinct is so insignificant that it is either not perceptible or 
so only by the most careful analytic investigation; in severe 
cases, this inhibition can drive men into the most tormenting 
confinement; indeed a severe psychoneurosis or psychosis be- 
longs under some circumstances to the most dreadful things 
which can happen in life. In every repression, the life-force 
comes into some state of inhibited development, it may be in its 
activity as reproductive function or as nutritional instinct or in 
other interests. 

Whatever is inhibited by repression is, according to our 
psychological understanding (54), the instinct, but only in 
certain concrete performances, thus, those united to intellectual 
and emotional affairs. In their places, the life-force seeks new 
paths, which, when they do not appear on the physical side, 
lead just as easily to changed emotional processes as to altered 
intellectual phenomena. 

I shall sketch these processes in detail, without regard to 
whether we are observing them in sound or sick persons. 
Particular considerations recommend reproducing the most 
important pathological types in their fundamental character- 
istics. The same laws hold for healthy and sick. Yes, the 
conflicts, too, which oppress the sick in their sufferings, are the 
same which make the healthy work.* 

*Juiig, D. Inhalt d. Psychose, p. 25. 

192 



LOSSES OF EMOTION 193 

1. The Paths of the Libido in Detail. 

A. emotional, processes 

1. Losses of Emotion 

(a) The repression often expresses itself very strikingly in 
the decrease of such emotions as have been present and the non- 
appearance of expected new emotions. For the educator, these 
ellipses are of considerable importance for they may definitely 
determine the direction of the life. The pedagogue trained in 
analysis is greatly needed by those who are emotionless toward 
their fellowmen and hence despairing of life, or those who in 
pathological irritability, make enemies of everyone. Most por- 
tentous is the emotional loss, when, at time of marriage, the 
real sexual demand comes to an individual. Since the roots 
of the absence of love, which is often so tragic, go back to 
childhood, the educator must be familiar with these processes. 

Frequently, lovers discover, to their deep pain, that their 
ardor grows cool without visible motive and indeed may cease. 
The judgment and estimation of the erotic object has remained 
the same or some tiny objection may have arisen which does 
not at all justify the refusal of love. In spite of all self-re- 
proaches, of all autosuggestive arguments, love remains absent 
and in its place, inner disgust, anxiety, pity, perhaps despair 
have become active. 

The traditional psychology which oriented itself almost ex- 
clusively according to the surface of consciousness, did not 
know what to make of this process, as it in general knew little 
how to deal with the wonderfully rich and varied, but also 
difficult to understand, field of the love-life. Does psycho- 
analysis solve the riddle ? 

Two very young girls, who were joined to excellent men in 
strong love and suddenly lost their affection apparently en- 
tirely, came under my pastoral observation. With one, vulgar 
sexual enlightenment by a girl comrade had caused distaste for 
marriage and therewith the disappearance of love. The other 



194. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

had shared the room of a somewhat frivolous companion for 
some time and become familiar with nasty things. In addition, 
she heard an older girl speak of ' ' worldly love ' ' as impure and 
impious and in contrast, praise the sweet adoration of Jesus 
in extreme pietistic form, as holy. The purity of heart, the 
quiet holiness of the pious exhorter, who, with the Apostle 
Paul, judged everything else as dross in order to win Christ, 
contrasted favorably with the foolish actions of the other com- 
panion. The very young little fiancee fled from the tempta- 
tions of her despised sexuality into ascetic piety. To her 
lover, a worthy teacher, she wrote a farewell letter, sj^mpa- 
thetic but energetic in tone, of being the happy bride of Christ 
and was deaf to all entreaties of her parents and of the 
troubled fiance, as well as to all religious and moral teachings ; 
hence they turned to me. I advised explaining to her the 
origin of her conduct. As a matter of fact, the fanaticism dis- 
appeared very soon and the earlier love returned enriched 
by purer ideas of the value of marriage. 

A youth of twenty years complained to me that his feeling 
toward his fiancee, to whom he had been deeply attached for 
some years, had for a few months disappeared. He torments 
the girl by undeserved nagging, of which he is afterwards 
ashamed. Now he begs me to tell him whence comes his cold- 
ness and what he should do. In accordance with my wish, he 
reported his last dream. It ran as follows: "I dreamed that 
I stood in the Kasernenplatz and my lady friend went by." 
[Nothing else?] *'Yes. The whole dream w^as: I am 
standing in the court of our former school-house. Someone 
commanded repeatedly: 'Stand at attention!' I obey each 
time and stand at attention. Thereupon, I find myself with 
my cousin in the waiting-room of a polyclinic." [The court.] 
"There, as a boy, I passed by with my present friend." 
[Someone.] "My friend." [Stand at attention.] "Thus 
we are commanded early in military service. That was espe- 
cially painful to me. I cannot endure this physical obedi- 
ence." [I obey each time.] "The motion, a sudden jerk, 



INTERPRETATION OF A DREAM 195 

a drawing back of the shoulders and throwing out of the chest, 
then the sinking together, was rhythmical and reminded me of 
something which you can already imagine. I was much ex- 
cited. I spoke with my friend of free love. Before I ex- 
plained to her, she knew nothing of sexual things and became 
suddenly eager to assume all the consequences of love since we 
both suffer, love each other and are destined to marry. I told 
her of my scruples. Then she became sad. Her love seemed 
to have gone, also she will no longer yield everything for 
others, while previously she was noted for altruism." [The 
cousin.] "She is of same age as myself and resembles my 
mother in many ways. ' ' 

For the comprehension of the dream, it should be added that 
the youth had questioned me concerning free love some months 
before, probably shortly before the loss of his love. He had 
at that time almost decided to accept the offer of his fiancee 
but was convinced of the ethical objections to prenuptial sexual 
intercourse. His present communication allows the unspoken 
reproof to be perceived : ' ' There, now see what you have done ! 
I am betrayed in my love and debased to a moody man, the 
loved one too from a noble-minded nature to an egotistic 
creature ! ' ' 

The interpretation is: "I obey (ironically) the beloved, 
who stimulates me in annoying manner to sexual intercourse 
(commands),* I prefer, however, to pass the time which I must 
"wait while love-sick, with the upright, mother-like cousin. ' ' 

Now we understand why the love failed : The youth wishes 
his unpleasant irritations out of the way. His absence of love 
is not necessarily genuine but signifies merely a defence neu- 
rosis (Freud) or measure of assurance (Adler). "We observe 
at the same time the flight to the mother (modeled on the in- 
fantile). Noteworthy further is the so frequent double-faced 
character of the manifestation: It can express renunciation 
quite as, well as longing. The youth would like to discover a 

* The command "Achtung, steht!" (attention, stand!) naturally 
refers ironically to erection. 



196 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

moral demand for sexual intercourse, the dream betrays a 
higher ethical tendency,* 

A peasant boy of eighteen desired my help because he felt 
unable to work and was constantly cold toward everybody. 
The drunken father, whom he hurled to the floor recently in 
protecting his mother, and had to tie with a rope, he hates 
and despises. Also, for the mother who had shown him too 
little affection when he was small, he has no hearty feeling, no 
matter how much he tries to have it. His comrades are as a 
whole unfit for friendship since he must mostly refuse them or 
where he could be friendly, is rejected by them. The youth 
shows strong introversion (shut off from the outer world, 
turning of the libido inward) and cannot be approached with 
grounds of reason. His inner need is great. Analysis of his 
dreams shows : The young man is fixed upon his mother who 
outweighs companions of his own age. In the conflict between 
mother and comrades, he appears in the dream upon the 
mother's side. The faults with which he reproaches his com- 
rades are exactly those with which he convicts himself (pro- 
jections). The dream following this disclosure is typically 
homosexual and anal-erotic, as in the case of a man soon to be 
discussed (200). My patient was greatly surprised when I 
remarked to him that from the dream, I should conclude that 
his bowel functions were not in order; in reality, he has. suf- 
fered since childhood from constipation which trouble dis- 
appeared from the day of the analysis. The next dream pic- 
tured the reconciliation with his father but at the expense of 
his comrades who came off badly. The following conversation 
affords the motive: "I have always been defenceless against 
them." Because unconsciously he feels inferior to them, he 
belittles them consciously. Finally, after eleven conversa- 
tions, the libido was forced to apply itself to the sur- 
roundings in normal manner. Since then, the young man 
feels happy, contented with life, able to work and entirely 

* One sees also from this example that the unconscious in no ways 
always represents a kingdom of the animalistic, unmoral and hostile to 
culture, even though this is usually the case. 



LOSS OF LOVE 197 

healthy. Hate and inhibitions for work have disappeared. 

Other examples, we saw on pages 80, 94, 111. The pastor 
often has to deal with marriages in which the hearth-fire is 
out because love has failed. Naturally, love cannot be extorted 
by admonitions and good advice. On the other hand, I know 
a number of cases in which when the repression was eliminated, 
the pent-up love returned and brought a beautiful happiness 
with it. One must guard carefully against considering the loss 
of the emotion of love as absence of love. Under the threshold 
of consciousness, the inclination very often exists in great 
force and waits longingly for occasion to master conscious- 
ness. 

Love often diminishes where in the substitute for the parents, 
traits appear which do not correspond to those of the parents. 
Once on a journey, I became acquainted with a young merchant 
who had been married only a month and had used this period 
to acquire a nice neurosis. He slept twelve hours at night 
and every midday from two till six o'clock, thus demonstrating 
very plainly his wish for a flight from reality. Hours at a 
time, he sat weeping and brooding over his misfortune before 
the funeral wreath of his mother. Love for his attractive wife 
had entirely disappeared. The anamnesis disclosed: The 
young wife was a niece of the dead mother of the subject. He 
had known her from a child but felt no deep affection for her. 
Only when the mother lay on her death-bed, did the cousin who 
was some years older than himself and resembled the mother 
in face, suddenly appear to him as uncommonly lovable. He 
became engaged to her very quickly and married her. Even 
on the next day, he felt that he had been deceived. It was 
easy for me to overcome the sleepiness but because of lack of 
time, I referred the patient to a neurologist for a thorough 
analysis. The latter cured the neurosis but also demonstrated 
a dementia preecox in the woman which gave a bad outlook 
for the marriage. 

Similar perils to marriage from fixations upon the parents 
occur so frequently that one would earnestly wish that all those 
about to be married might know whether they are fooled by an 



198 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

injurious father- or mother-substitute. Only the analysis can 
afford conclusion on this point. 

Other cases also occur: love can be repressed by the fact 
that infantile repressed hate comes to life again. This condi- 
tion, the analyst in particular often has to trace (compare be- 
low, Chapter XVII, The Transference). 

Where a love which was not simply a neurotic flood-wave 
(see following section) disappears, we are often dealing with a 
regression to an infantile condition. If there is no place for 
the ardent longing, then it seeks the parent-substitutes which 
occasioned the infantile condition. 

(b) A second group of emotional deficiencies has to do with 
emotions hindered by repression. These inhibitions also are 
to blame for much unhappiness. Numbers of people come to 
every analyst who suffer shipwreck because the deepest long- 
ing either comes not at all or too late into consciousness. The 
motives are the same as in the rejection of emotion. Where it 
was formerly believed that the inability to love was to be ex- 
plained as a primary disposition, we know to-day that every 
person who is not an idiot bears within himself sexual and 
erotic capabilities and that incapacity for sexual love depends 
without exception on repression processes. In proof, I can 
offer for consideration here only a limited number of observa- 
tions from an abundant material. 

An unmarried woman physician of fifty became ill from a 
severe obsessional neurosis. She had to add the street-lamps, 
square the sum and make that the starting-point for other, in 
part more complicated, computations. Still worse, however, 
did three obsessing ideas torment her and give her no rest : 
She constantly heard the melodies: "You are embraced, mil- 
lions, this kiss of the whole world!" and "I know that my 
Redeemer liveth. ' ' In addition, she saw herself sitting in the 
snow in a pool of blood. The lady who told me of this case 
discovered the meaning of both obsessions herself: the patient 
had as a girl received a marriage proposal to which in spite of 
all high esteem for the lover and all friendship for him, she 
could not react with love. In the menopause, the love, long 



INHIBITIONS TO LOVE 199 

.withheld, breaks violently forth and turns toward the man 
whom she really loved without knowing it. An analysis was 
not done. The visual phantasy, I am inclined to consider, 
because of analogous cases, as realizing the wish for birth in a 
condition of innocence. 

From my own work I know of the following examples : A 
woman teacher of thirty-five years had earlier, on account of 
superior intellectual, esthetic and ethical talents, been courted 
uncommonly much but was not able to produce the eroticism 
necessary for marriage or a love affair. She is the ideal friend 
who charms everyone by her sympathetic nature. But the 
sentimentality of her expression was united, as so often, to the 
incapacity to realize her eroticism. While she dedicated her- 
self to children with touching devotion, her innermost nature 
cried out for salvation and love. Still, for years, she felt happy 
since she successfully repressed the voices from the depths. 
Finally came the breaking through of the unconscious. Mel- 
ancholia with strong suicidal impulses which led to an un- 
successful attempt to take her own life rendered analysis neces- 
sary. The analytic investigation revealed the evidence that 
the love of the patient was entirely attached to her father and 
her whole life filled with the wish to impress this important 
man, for whom, in consciousness, there was little inclination. 
Her whole activity formed an imitation of the father, without 
the person in question being aware of it; on this uncompre- 
hended plan, her life happiness threatened to be wrecked. 
When the fixation was removed, the patient, now eager for life, 
returned to her friendships. Every morning she awakened 
in tears: The onetime lovers appeared one after another in 
her dreams and waking phantasies and she thought she could 
detect that she had secretly loved one or the other, only the 
former condition of being chained by her complexes, had pre- 
vented the deep-rooted emotion from coming into conscious- 
ness.* 

The analysis, from which I present only a small fragment, 

* It would also be conceivable that the eroticism, only now set free, 
projects a newly developed love upon the images out of the past. 



200 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

gave her the ability to adapt her inclinations to reality. She 
regretted most deeply the blindness of her previous life which 
seemed to her in spite of admirable results rather a dallying 
with the realities of life. "VVe are dealing here with a person 
who in the sense of the traditional pathology must have been 
called perfectly normal and yet she was restrained from her 
own destiny by subliminal restrictions. How many individuals 
are forced in similar manner with demoniacal violence to paths 
which prevent a free development of their highest, especially 
their moral, powers. How much poverty in love is not inborn 
but merely the expression of an infantile fixation which might 
be dissipated by analytic pedagogy ! 

Often, the eroticism is displayed in perverse formations. 
I will show in two examples how the barring of normal love-im- 
pulses precedes that kind of sexual abnormalities. 

A wealthy merchant of twenty-six years, of superior talents, 
is incapable of loving a girl and founding his own household. 
The apparently completely normal man loves poetry and him- 
self writes lyric poems of excellent content and admirable 
execution. Strangely enough, however, the expression of love 
is absolutely lacking in them. His sexual needs he satisfies 
without scruple by means of prostitutes. Thus, it cannot sur- 
prise us that he does not know how to gain much from life 
although he might be a real artist with his excellent talents. 
Without psychoanalysis, it would have been impossible to ex- 
plain his condition. The dreams disclosed not only the ex- 
traordinarily frequent wish to return to the mother's womb, 
but. also a strong interest for the lower back parts of his 
mother. The wish, to lie there, pushes forward strongly. To 
this wish there is joined a group of characteristics which 
Freud * first discovered and which have since been very often 
substantiated. Freud recognized in a considerable number 
of persons a striking love of orderliness, frugality and stub- 
bornness, besides chronic constipation. This type is met 
frequently in shop people, teachers and scholars, who, in spite 

* Freud, Character und Analerotik. Kl. Schriften II, pp. 132-137. 



ANAL-EROTICISM 201 

of a scrupulous overpunctuality, do not attain to a noble 
achievement corresponding to their talents. Freud furnished 
the proof that all these persons are neurotics who were robbed 
by a certain repression of a considerable part of their chances 
in life, and he disclosed the inner psychological connections of 
the symptoms. Thanks to analysis, that devastation of life 
can be eliminated. 

The young man of whom I am speaking was analerotic * to 
a high degree without feeling anything of the homosexual or 
pedarastic wishes. In his toilet, he is laughably exact. It 
is terrible to him to be compelled to make a visit in a hurry 
because it is two days since he was shaved. Every minutia, 
the multimillionaire writes carefully down. A certain prefer- 
ence for peculiarities is unmistakable. With his parents, he 
is on bad terms, especially with his father who is still deeper 
in analeroticism than he. Twice, the youth attempted to 
fall in love, but he chose two cousins with whom he knew in ad- 
vance, according to his testimony, that an alliance was abso- 
lutely impossible. Naturally, the love was insincere. It was 
a clever attempt to free himself from the mother by the aid of 
a mother-double. 

The neurotic individual being on a journey, I could hold 
only two conversations with him. They sufficed to make clear 
his situation to him and awaken in him the decision to free 
himself from his inhibitions by thorough analysis in order 
to attain an efficient life. 

As last example, I mention a woman principal of an insti- 
tute, twenty-eight years of age, of high moral standing, whom 
a neurologist of my pastorate introduced. The lady suffers 
from severe melancholia since she thinks she cannot longer 
endure her homosexual needs. If she met a young girl on 
the street, she would be seized with an ardent desire to kiss 
her. Weeks at a time, she saw the unknown girl, who was 
perhaps not particularly charming, constantly before her, and 
could no longer sleep from grief over the fact that she cannot 

*Anua signifies the end of tlie bowel. 



20a THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

satisfy her kissing passion as on some earlier friends. Especial 
pain was caused her by the fear that she had seduced to homo- 
sexual love a fourteen-year old girl entrusted to her care, by 
her sensual tenderness, although improper acts had never oc- 
curred. The little girl treinbled with excitement when she 
was embraced and wept of lovesickness when she did not see 
the beloved one often enough. 

Our homosexual patient had a father, physically handsome, 
but one who was insignificant and anxious, who left entirely 
to his energetic and intelligent wife the direction of the business 
and the education of the children. The little daughter ad- 
mired her mother and, even early, judged her father as insig- 
nificant. As a small girl she was normal. She played equally 
gladly with boys and girls. With both, she encountered im- 
proper things : girls allowed themselves in the dangerous play 
of doctor, to be guilty of improper touching, and further, a 
little sickly boy with whom the child had to associate when 
seven to nine years old, allowed similar transgressions. "When 
about eight years old, she fell in love with an adult cousin 
who often tossed her in the air, during which procedure she 
felt a ''peculiar sensation." When ten or eleven years old, 
she was repeatedly misused by a woman housekeeper of forty 
years. Pronounced homosexuality broke out when the girl 
was thirteen years old. At that time, she went much with a 
teacher who resembled her mother in many ways but who sur- 
passed her in culture. This passionate individual, who had 
outspoken homosexual tendencies, for two years overwhelmed 
the girl with excessive affection. At that period, there de- 
veloped in the little one a genuine passion for kissing while 
the sexual desires awakened hy the housekeeper receded. Some 
little love affairs with boys also led to kissing but passion was 
lacking in these affairs. Those affairs were undertaken more 
from imitation and vanity. 

In the pension, the one-sided erotic direction was further 
developed in warm friendships. When nineteen years of age, 
she undertook two heterosexual erotic attempts which, how- 
ever, failed. The first concerned a very young artist of f emi- 



HOMOSEXUALITY 203 

nine appearance. The love was very intimate, the young girl 
revelled in ideal conversation and liked to exchange kisses v^ith 
the youth. After his departure, there came a correspondence 
filled with homesickness ; promises were not given. 

Five or six weeks after the separation from her beloved 
friend, she became engaged out of despair to a fine peasant 
boy since she got along badly at home with a relative and had 
to give up the plan of a higher education. She thought to 
develop love for her fiance but immediately after the published 
announcement of her engagement, anxiety overwhelmed her 
that she had undertaken something impossible. The dull, re- 
tiring man plainly resembled her father. Seven months, she 
dissembled love ; every morning brought gall and longing for 
death. Finally, she broke off the relation and concentrated 
her emotions entirely on relatives of her own sex. In this, 
she retained a refined, feminine attitude and gave the im- 
pression of having a genuine maidenly nature. 

So long as she was homosexually gratified, she troubled her- 
self little about vocation, nature, art and religion; as soon 
as her tendency underwent inhibitions, the ideal interests ap- 
peared in "force. She herself compared these fluctuations to 
a balance. 

"When she was ardently in love, she was free from sexual 
excitements. Once with the unloved fiance, on the other hand, 
she was sexually excited when he caressed her in an entirely, 
proper manner. 

The analysis could not be carried to the end, unfortunately, 
since the improvement appeared too quickly. Feminine in- 
verted individuals have not so far been analyzed. I dare not 
venture to illuminate the darkness. Still, I can point out some 
spots of light. 

The reaction attempt pointed to only the most superficial 
layers of the repressions present. The first dream led deeper : 
"A cat bit me on the front of the left index finger and for a 
long time would not release me. Then the finger swelled up 
and burst open to the bone. The tendon was lacerated, much 
water flowed out. Then someone said I would have a stiff 



204 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

finger. I thought: 'What a shame, now I cannot play the 
piano any more!' I awoke and found my finger so fast 
asleep that I could not move it." 

Sleep was preceded by a despairing prayer which brought 
temporary rest. Before the analysis, the girl was extremely 
restless and longed for her loved ones but said that she only 
brought new misfortune on them. 

To the cat was associated the house in which the housekeeper 
lived, after this, the child who was apparently seduced to homo- 
sexuality and a friend of her youth who loved the dreamer 
when she was eight or ten years old. The kitten had at first 
wanted to bite her in the foot. The swelling finger acquired 
on the underside a four-cornered appendix like a magazine rifle. 
Its sexual symbolic meaning becomes thereby still plainer: 
The patient dreamed herself in the man's position, her sleeping 
finger awoke the idea of an erect penis. The bursting open to 
the bone and the losing of water disclose that a feminine phan- 
tasy was also active in the unconscious. The upper slit is 
like that of a gun. 

Now the dreamer recalled that the water flowed down steps 
and that she ran with her wound to a woman physician friend. 
The latter met her suddenly in the neighborhood of a merry- 
go-round. Then said the sister of the injured one: "She 
can fix your finger in a minute." But the physician inter- 
posed: "I am sorry but I do not operate." She sent the 
patient to a male physician. 

The associations were few : The intimate woman physician 
friend had really said to her shortly before that unfortunately 
she did not operate but would take an operative course. She 
had danced with her at a masked ball (hence the merry-go- 
round). The sexualitj'^ excited by the young seduced girl was 
to be gratified by the friend of like age. This wish is repressed 
in favor of a heterosexual one. The physician is the analyst 
on whom a weak transference (see below) came into existence. 
That the physician helped is therefore not dreamed. The sex- 
uality conceived as masculine remains therefore as tension (the 
finger remained stiff). The earlier graceful love activity g 



HOMOSEXUALITY 205 

(piano playing) ceases. A solution of the conflict is not found, 
hence comes the flight to the waking state ; still the longing for 
health prevails. 

The peripheral sexuality of this homosexual individual has 
been repressed, as it seems, as a result of disgusting experi- 
ences. As substitute, the passion for kissing sprang up. The 
constitutional claims of the eroticism became fixed on the 
mother who was also apparently inclined to harmless, asexual 
kissing. The higher needs forced an intensive identification 
with the mother. The repressed sexuality, nevertheless, plainly 
entered into a comparison with the handsome but mentally un- 
important father. Even in strongly heterosexual girls, we 
often find hysterical symptoms which show that a masculine 
sexual role has been assumed. But in the cases known to me, 
only the incestuous love, not the whole sexuality, was split off. 
Our present patient, on the other hand, fell into homosexual 
passion for kissing because a radical genital repression occurred 
and the infantile incestuous love for the imposing father was 
later thrown into eclipse by the recognition of his inferiority. 
The father lingers, so far as I can assume from analogous ob- 
servations on other inverted individuals, for her in every man 
so far as he does not, like the young artist, have a feminine 
figure. Hence the passion for kissing must apply itself to the 
female sex. 

The analysis of the dream quoted gave the inverted one * 
first of all the certainty that behind the apparently harmless 
and therefore tenaciously retained longing for affection from 
persons of the female sex, gross sexual wishes lurked. At first 
this unpleasant discovery caused fright but it also occasioned 
the passage to valuable sublimations. 

The lady now voluntarily renounced the sensual tenderness, 
the loss of which no longer made her unhappy. Since we were 
dealing with a mild inversion, an entirely normal eroticism 
might perhaps have been attained if the patient had not been 
so highly pleased that she withdrew from analysis. It was 

* Freud's expression for persons whose sexuality is directed exclu- 
sively to members of the same sex (Drei Abh., p. 2). 



206 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

striking how the physical appearance changed : the face which 
had become prematurely aged from worry, again assumed a 
youthful appearance. 

I could now show by a still further list of examples how the 
heterosexual emotions could not appear in normal manner 
toward persons outside the family because they were fixed on 
brothers or sisters. It might be shown that without exception 
this subconscious repression goes back to a deeper-lying fixa- 
tion upon the parents. But in this book, we can offer only a 
few examples. 

We have seen that not only insincere but also real repression- 
free emotions may be lost under the influence of the repression. 
That the libido knows how to create constantly a substitute in 
all this change, we shall have occasion to demonstrate later. 

2. The Emotional Flood 

Just as little as physical energies which limit one another, 
change into nothing, even so little can psychic energies pass 
under the repression without leaving a trace. We shall see 
a great number of smooth paths into which the banished libido 
knows how to smuggle itself, often in wonderful disguise. 
First, let us discuss one of the most frequent : The contribu- 
tions made to the conscious emotional life from the unconscious 
enable trifling emotions to attain a powerful emphasis. 

We must console ourselves in the present illumination of 
the dynamic relations to general considerations. Later, we 
shall consider the particular processes and laws whereby the 
emotional flood appears. 

The emotional investment can affect any functions or values. 
There is no emotionally toned performance, no valuation which 
may not suffer from conditions of the complex, either a loss 
or an overemphasis, that is, an exaggerated emotional emphasis 
not appropriate in itself. 

I shall begin with some clear examples which deal with the 
distribution of emotion in the intellectual processes. 

An Austrian lady of about thirty years suddenly began to 
take a passionate interest in astronomy and to despise the pre- 



SUBSTITUTES FOR EROTICISM 201 

viously preferred poetry. She suffered from migraine in the 
forehead (identification with a Roman heroine who, because of 
an unhappy marriage, shot herself), from anxiety in tunnels 
and from vaginal pains which, according to the report of a 
woman gynecologist, were hysterically maintained under the 
pretext of a scar. The lady married without love. Towards 
her physically and mentally superior husband, whom she re- 
vered and admired, she acted erotically cold but was secretly 
passionate toward a strikingly ugly man. As a young girl, 
she had loved a handsome youth whom she could not marry; 
since then, she has fallen in love with several amazingly homely 
men. Before the appearance of her passion for astronomy, she 
had dismissed the last of her friends. The star science was 
preferred because it had nothing to do with eroticism. 

Another lady living in ungratifying wedlock fled into pos- 
tage-stamp collecting to which she applied herself until late 
at night if she would assure herself of rest. This same neuro- 
tic individual had a dread of long snails and earth-worms while 
she handled without discomfort small snails and other creep- 
ing things. She could not eat meat, especially unsmoked meat, 
but had a predilection for white orange peel and other indiges- 
tible food. I leave it for the reader to interpret these pheno- 
mena. To him who has worked analytically with symbols, this 
presents no mystery. 

Frequently, the repressed eroticism escapes into eroticism 
in highly refined form but directed toward another object than 
the real one. A young lady of twenty-three years fell in love 
with her nurse so intensely during a short illness that she be- 
came cold toward her fiance and all other male friends and 
relatives. She wept when the deaconess was long engaged 
with other patients. After her recovery, she thought day and 
night only of the admired nurse. The latter was neither par- 
ticularly pretty nor charming in manner. Rather she was 
distinguished by an almost austere nature and also by a strong 
will. At the first meeting she seemed surly so that our pa- 
tient felt almost hurt. To offset this, however, she proved 
trustworthy and well-meaning. The passion blazed up when 



208 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

the apparently disagreeable sister softly approached the pa- 
tient 's bed at night and looked after her. The young girl had 
felt since her childhood that she was slighted by her mother. 
In her mother, she missed the constancy, reliability in keeping 
secrets entrusted to her and real tenderness expressed in 
deeds. The sweet endearments of the mother have become 
repulsive to her. The deaconess makes a contrasting mother- 
substitute: behind the austerity of the person playing the 
mother, lurks trustworthiness and good intention. In the 
nurse, the longed-for mother is loved, the libido set free from 
the mother comes to her. In addition, the sister exemplified 
the virtues which the girl wished for herself. 

The will, too, can be chosen as carrier of feelings from the 
unconscious. He who is charged in this way, feels himself 
seized by a demand for activity which is enigmatical to him 
who despises the subliminal region. 

I analyzed a man aged thirty-nine who showed interesting 
religious phenomena. From a boy up, possessed of strong 
sexual needs, he hoped to find peace in marriage. His wife, 
however, refused in the first years of wedded life to bear 
children and caused her husband to practice coitus interruptus. 
After a short time, his inclination toward nature-cure methods, 
to which he had previously been moderately attached, became 
passionate, indeed even fanatical. He bought about one hun- 
dred books on the subject and had for other things only slight 
interest. To my question put after this report, ' ' Of what were 
you thinking?" I received the answer: "In all things, one 
must carry on things normally." This answer awakened, in 
the connection named, a surmise which I kept to myself for 
the time being. I heard further that after some years the wife 
became reconciled to normal intercourse. Immediately, the 
cult of nature-healing ceased, to recur again after the birth 
of the first child when the former bad habit, the immediate 
cause of countless anxiety neuroses and hysterias, because the 
sexuality was again inhibited, was resumed. 

An example of increased emphasis on the religious life, we 
noted above (92). Further cases will come to notice. 



EMOTIONAL OUTBURSTS 209 

When a young girl appears very sentimental and is charac- 
terized by excessive use of adjectives and by exaggerated sweet- 
ness, she is as a rule hysterical and incapable of a great and 
true love. Such natures can stimulate like personalities who 
suffer similarly from a kind of "psychic diabetes," to ardent 
love and themselves rave in love until the real demands of life 
begin, when all has vanished. 

Whenever the educator sees such emotional outbursts appear 
without external cause, he may conclude with infallible cer- 
tainty that there is a previous repressive process. 

The emotional flood shows us a reinforcement of certain emo- 
tions by other emotions foreign to them. If the repression 
ceases or if the falsification of the emotions is explained, the 
delusion dissolves. The person on whom we transposed emo- 
tions really belonging to another then becomes of no account 
to us. Following the flood, comes the ebb, following the erotic 
ecstasy, comes erotic desolation. The person who was hotly 
loved yesterday, may have become of no importance to-day if 
the delusion has vanished. Further, the emotional flood causes 
much unhappiness especially when, under its influence, im- 
portant decisions are made, for instance, a marriage contract 
(see page 197) . Many times, the repression lasts for a lifetime 
and the emotion which happened like a cuckoo's egg remains 
unchanged. It may happen that a man devotes to his wife all 
the time the affects which really belong to his mother. Certain 
it is that all persons carry within themselves many such erro- 
neously harbored emotions while all education and the entire 
higher civilized life rests in part on such invaders which came 
from the land of the unconscious and were falsely assigned to 
this or that post in our consciousness. 

3. The Transposition of Emotion 

The investigation of certain striking emotional amplifications 
which are not explainable by conscious processes, (only those 
of this kind are under discussion) revealed to us the fact that 
that kind of phenomena may be interpreted as the influx of 
another repressed process. 



210 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

This transposition of affects is violently assailed by oppo- 
nents of psychoanalysis. Kronfeld assumes that Freud de- 
duced this conception from a definite theory concerning "the 
•nature of the associative explanation of psychic events" and 
other hypothetical constructions.* With the aim of contra- 
dicting, he engages in logical discussions concerning psycho- 
logical principles. Over the psychological facts brought for- 
ward by Freud, which must be and are known to him,! he does 
not trouble himself. Still less does he interrogate reality as 
to whether the transposition asserted by Freud and the im- 
posing company of his adherents, occurs. "With him who re- 
fuses to exercise his own observation, knowledge gained from 
experience is not to be discussed. The opponents of Galileo 
refused to look through his telescope ; a certain Mr. Bouilland, 
on Mareh 11, 1878, sprang at the throat of the physicist, Du 
Moucel, who introduced the phonograph and called him a 
lying ventriloquist. On Sept. 30, 1878, the same Mr. Bouilland 
"after a thorough trial of the Edison apparatus," explained 
the pretended invention to be a swindle, for one could not 
assume that such a measly bit of metal could reproduce the 
noble tone of the human voice.J 

He who is inclined to overcome the aversion which clings 
to all of us toward things which are at first mysterious — and 
I include Kronfeld also with these seekers after truth — may 
reconcile himself with the results described below. We will 
permit ourselves to be warned once more by the critics to 
avoid hasty hypotheses. Proceeding from the facts, we shall 
accord to theoretic construction only so much place and right 
as is unconditionally necessary for the gaining of a causal 
connection. The assumptions stated provisionally we shall 
abandon every time that new experiences contradict them. 

We have already pointed out transpositions of emotion in 
a considerable number of cases. In the last section, we spoke 
of overemphasized pleasure in astronomy, postage-stamps, in 
a nurse, in nature cure, that is, pleasure which cannot be ex- 

* Kronfeld, p. 61. f Same, p. 44. 

% Kemmerieh, Kultur-Kuriosa. 



TRANSPOSITION OF EMOTION 211 

explained from the value of the object itself. Earlier, we 
recognized Scheffel's "Ekkehard" as a remedy for clucking 
(34), washing became a great ceremony (68), machines, 
horses, the nose, legs of doves and children, cockroaches as- 
sumed the character of fearful objects (68, 122, 103), a rub- 
ber tire and a clamp which held a bicycle pump attained ir- 
resistible attraction (76), a kitten and gas mantle stimulated 
the pleasure in aggression with obsessional force (77), the 
figure of Jesus became, as result of unfortunate love, invested 
with enormous emotion which disappeared after the disap- 
pearance of that deficiency in love (92), sympathy assumed 
a pathological degree (102), a moderate scarcity of available 
dwellings became the destroyer of life's happiness (109), the 
Madonna gained the character of a beneficent goddess of love 
(136). The sight of a funeral procession led to an obsessional 
idea (144), the mouth of a brother attained irresistible attrac- 
tive force (159), the eye became the female sexual symbol 
(160), harmless wool and silk developed into untouchable, hor- 
rible objects (182). 

Whoever has done analytic work for any length of time is 
not confused by dozens, perhaps hundreds of observations. 
But I am almost afraid of tiring the reader by further cases. 
Still, the fear of facts displayed by certain critics, on whose 
fairness I place great hopes, may serve as my excuse for pre- 
senting for consideration a few more observations. 

The sixteen year old girl mentioned on page 160, who, while 
knitting, feared to stick herself in the eyes, had a similar 
phobia two years earlier. She feared for a period of several 
weeks when she lay in bed to strike against the bedside table. 
If she turned toward the wall, her anxiety did not become less. 
[Put your mind on the table.] "Nothing." [Put more at- 
tention on it.] "I was anxious then because I knew from 
comrades that something would soon happen to me. I was 
fearfully ashamed of this and thought if only no one would 
notice it. I wished to give no offence. Yet I put the matter 
out of my head." We understand now why the bedside table 
was feared : it is the article which gives offence. 



212 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Another girl aged fourteen and one lialf years, had for a 
number of years had a pathological fear of beetles. When she 
saw one, she betrayed the most violent agitation. All possible 
suggestions had been tried to free the girl from her phobia by 
educational influences but without result. Even a soothsayer 
had tried her skill and brutally compelled the little one to touch 
a painted beetle; naturally, the anxiety only increased. The 
analysis attempted at first to define the symptom more clearly. 
It turned out that the skin of the beetle inspired her with 
greatest horror (see page 122, the masculine counterpart). 
Then appeared the anxiety that the animal might crawl up her 
back or be injured on its thin wing membranes. Finally, the 
chief determinants appeared: the little girl had been shame- 
fully seduced by a servant maid and her lover. Both in- 
structed the child in improper acts and assured her that she 
would have a tickling sensation as if beetles were crawling 
on her body, which the child found interesting. Further, they 
explained the significance of the hymen to her. In the be- 
ginning, they made the child drunk when they indulged their 
appetites, later, they let her look on unceremoniously. After 
repression of the masturbation, the anxiety appeared which 
we have already met so often as expression of dammed-up 
sexual desire and attached itself to the idea of beetles. The 
girl often imagined that she lay decaying in the grave while 
beetles crawled about on her. The phobia diminished at once 
but returned as result of later severe sexual irritation, where- 
upon an infantile stage of the phobia was discovered (227) . 

Freud long ago pointed out that anxiety which has become 
free, the sexual origin of which is not remembered, changes 
to the general fear of animals, thunderstorms, darkness, etc.* 
Thus is often explained the vertigo on stairs and near preci- 
pices. I once climbed a moimtain in company with a patient 
aged twenty-two years ; the mountain was crowned by a terrace 
with a splendid outlook. My patient kept himself eight or 
ten steps from the balustrade and explained that he was sub- 
ject to extreme vertigo. I bade him (experimentally) to 

* Freud, Die Abwehr-Neuropsychosen. Kl. Schriften I, p. 53. 



TRANSPOSITION OF FEELING OF GUILT 213 

practice self-control but in spite of evident effort, he was held 
back. Then I commanded him to reflect upon what we had 
found in probing his anxiety in the presence of machines and 
horses (68) and left him to himself. Some seconds later, he 
stood beside me and quietly looked into the abyss. How are 
we to interpret such experiences if we deny that a sexually 
conditioned affect of anxiety which has arisen elsewhere, re- 
inforced the insignificant asexual excitement ? 

Of pedagogic interest is the transposition of the feeling of 
guilt. The pupil described on pages 31 and 102 had stolen 
from his mother since he was six years old without having any 
remorse from so doing. At tliis point, he allowed himself to 
be seduced to onanism which he practised a single time in 
the morning before school. From that time, the sexual com- 
plex expressed itself in automatisms: For three weeks, he 
experienced every morning an automatic sexual act. To 
the onanistic activity, he ascribed no significance, on the 
other hand, since the slip into masturbation, his conscience 
has tormented him violently over the theft. Here we see 
the sexual anxiety transposed to another reaction of con- 
science. 

There is not only crossing of affects but also such an one of 
emotions. One sees this best in a series of transpositions. I 
will be content with a clear example : A sixteen-year-old girl 
was brought for my pastoral treatment because of pathological 
grief, refractoriness to most housework, unmannerly behavior 
toward parents and melancholia. The sadness broke out con- 
tinually in the society of children when any love-song was 
sung or danced. It was plainly evident that behind this, an 
affair of childhood lurked : When twelve years old, the little 
girl was in love and had been compelled in brusque manner 
under harmful reproaches to send her friend away. (During 
the grief which compelled violent weeping, she did not think 
of that event.) From the time of the departure of the friend, 
she hated the God of love whom she had named as protector 
of her tender covenant. This did not, however, prevent her 
from praying passionately to the creative power, but of God 



2U THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

she would know nothing at all since the Bible said that God 
is love and love was loathsome to her. 

The distaste for housework led to a great surprise. I asked : 
' ' Do you hate all housework ? ' ' and received the reply : ' ' Yes, 
all." [Do you hate any particular work more than the rest?] 
' ' Yes. The most distasteful to me is dusting, setting in order, 
cutting the flowers and caring for canary birds." [What do 
you do less unwillingly?] "I am glad to set the table, make 
the beds, water the flowers and run errands." [Thus, it is 
cleaning work which excites you mostly to misbehavior?] 
"Certainly. But no, the flowers!" [What do you do with 
them?] ''I must cut off the ends of the stems because the sap- 
canals are stopped up." 

Here, the girl became greatly embarrassed. I knew that she 
had suffered since earliest childhood from severe constipation 
which had been combated with enemata and countless laxa- 
tives. Immediately, the girl grasped the connection between 
the difficulty of bodily purification and household cleaning 
work. How the causal connection is to be considered, we can- 
not now say. Enough, the stubborn little one yielded her anal- 
erotic gain of pleasure from enemata and hardened masses of 
feces and therewith also the symbolic expression of this re- 
pressed desire, the aversion to cleaning work and was changed 
with little trouble and to the astonishment of her family, into 
a proper, industrious little house-mother and reverent, obedi- 
ent little daughter. 

Further, the resentment transposed from love (and from the 
father) upon God disappeared very soon, together with the 
pathological sadness and the girl confessed great joy in the 
Christian God of love. 

The girl felt entirely well for three months. Then her 
mother wished that the child might be freed from another bad 
habit which dated back many years. She was fond of tearing 
the skin from her thumb. I knew, naturally, what this habit 
betrayed, especially as the mother reported that her trying 
child had masturbated when eight years old. From extra 



SYMBOLISMS 215 

caution and because the religious ethical relations left nothing 
more to be desired, I refused to treat this symptom although 
I must have known at that time that I was going out of the 
way of my pedagogic duty. A far more skilled neurologist 
than myself, to whom, however, my patient brought no frank- 
ness, succeeded in overcoming the obsessional movement by 
exceedingly arduous work. Yet scarcely had it ceased than 
the girl began to eat raw carrots with ravenous appetite. With 
enthusiastic gestures and exaggerated emotional expressions, 
she described the sweetness of carrots. Encouraged by the 
physician's example, I allowed the little one to find the sexual 
meaning of carrots, their symbolical identification with the 
finger, whereupon, the ravenous desire disappeared. 

Somewhat later, during a violin concert, there awoke an 
ardent desire to learn to play this instrument. Asked for the 
motive, she openly confessed that she connected a curious feel- 
ing with the wish. She wished a violin, for as she remarked 
with enraptured, plainly erotic, facial expression, "One can 
put so much into it. ' ' Whoever is familiar with Swiss children 
knows what fiddle (Geige) means in their jargon. When the 
eager little daughter accompanied by her father, bought the 
violin, she began suddenly after a long remission to pull off the 
skin on her finger again so that even the most skeptical person 
must see how this automatism, the desire for carrots and play- 
ing a violin, betrayed the same unconscious, and that the same 
affect passed over to the different ideas. The pulling at the 
skin ceased at once again, for one manifestation relieved the 
other. When I showed the girl, who played very prettily on the 
piano, the meaning of her extravagant passion for the violin, 
this symptom disappeared also.* 

Are we now warranted in speaking of transposition of 
emotion ? Let us state the two criteria and postulates of causal 
connection established by us. As criteria; we found that of re- 
lationship by content and that of constant result. The syn- 
thetic postulate ran : The establishment of a causal connection 

* Further examples by Freud, Kl. Schriften I, p. 54. 



216 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

may contradict no other experiences concerning causal connec- 
tion. The analytic postulate was that the dictum must be as 
simple as possible. 

In our cases, we often saw an affect, for example, anxiety 
or consciousness of guilt, which belonged to one idea, split-off 
from it and appear attached to another idea. Here, the causal 
criteria and postulates of causal connection plainly coincide. 
At other times, we saw an emotion which would be enigmati- 
cal to the consciousness-psychology, disappear and another 
similarly inexplicable one appear. "We have already recognized 
that the emotion does not reappear attached to any special 
favorite idea, but that the carrier of emotion must have some 
relationship (positive or negative) or even a relation of ex- 
ternal association to the earlier idea. Of this we shall have 
more to say later. Enough! We find all the conditions at 
hand for the assumption of emotional transpositions. 

The question may be asked whether instincts can also be 
transposed. The fact is that the hunger instinct, for instance, 
can act vicariously for the sexual instinct. One example, we 
have already seen. Inversely, the revulsion against sexuality 
may manifest itself in refusal to eat in general or against 
certain foods. Only the instinct itself is not transposed, but 
the particular instinct is joined to certain functions by the 
aid of particular organs. Rather, we will say in accordance 
with our explanation of the concepts, life-force (Lebensdrang) 
and instinct : The life-force invested in an activity of instinct 
devotes itself, as a result of a repression, to another* activity. 
Therefore, instead of speaking of a transposition of instinct, 
we speak more correctly of a reversal or transposition of life- 
force. 

Likewise, we consider the transference of emotion and af- 
fect as ' 'new canalization.' ' of the life-force. Only in this way, 
does it become comprehensible to us how mathematics or re- 
ligion may attain an increase in emphasis as a result of sexual 
repression. 

The transposition of emotions and affects is also an every- 
day phenomenon among healthy individuals so that Kron- 



TRANSPOSITION OF EMOTION 217 

f eld's denial of its existence surprised me. Bleuler recalls 
the familiar phenomenon that the angry person is inclined to 
destroy things which are quite innocent of his affect; "the 
woman unhappy in marriage takes out her anger on the servant 
maid; she herself knows not at all the real cause of her dis- 
satisfaction with her husband and seeks it in the conduct of 
the maid. " * To what teacher are similar smuggling of affects 
unknown ? One strikes the sack and means the donkey, one ad- 
mires the beautiful toilette and transfers the admiration to 
the wearer, the old rheumatic patient transfers his rage over 
the pain upon the innocent cat. Is that really so absolutely 
new that Freud should be called theorist and juggler of terms ? 
Even the preanalytic psychology, t which certainly no one 
will accuse of any too keen perception, has noticed something 
related to transposition of emotion. Hoffding observes that 
the same things and circumstances seem quite different to us 
according to our various moods. He formulated the state- 
ment: ''The emotion does not change immediately with the 
ideas but spreads over the new ideas, even if these bear no re- 
lation to that which caused the emotion. ' ' % This ' ' expansion 
of emotion" is something different from the transposition by 
which the previous carrier of emotion is unburdened. Never- 
theless, it approaches the phenomenon described by us. In 
Wundt's three-volume standard work, I could not discover 
even this much consideration of the poor emotional processes. 
On the other hand, Witasek recognizes an emotional transfer- 
ence of which he gives good examples: "An object which re- 
minds me of a person dear to me, becomes likewise dear and 
precious, no matter how worthless it may be in itself. A place 
in which I may once have undergone a really disagreeable 
scene, inspires me at once when I come upon it again, with a 
mild discomfort, even if I do not recall that scene at all 

* Bleuler, Die Psychoanalyse Freuds, Jahrb. II, p. 695. 

f I would ask that the word analytic be understood as psychoanalytic. 
I am far from asserting that the prefreudian psychology did not analyze 
at all, it has really produced a series of such works, from which 
psychoanalysis itself has made grateful use. 

I H. Hoffding, Psychologic, Leipzig, 1893, p. 417. 



218 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

clearly. ' ' * Ebbinghaus also calls the attachment between 
emotions and sensations and ideas, a free one; he recalls that 
to a person on a bitter winter day, everything feels gray, while 
on a pleasant spring day everything seems rosy.t But in- 
stead of going into the conditions of these variations in emo- 
tion in detail, he makes use of the vague statement that the 
particular' nature of the emotions which attach themselves to 
sensations and ideas is outside the content of those influencing 
the relation of the objective emotional causes in the w^eal and 
woe of the mind.J Storring, in his investigations concerning 
the approval and disapproval in volition, develops the view 
that emotional states which have appeared in the experience 
of more remoter effects of the will, may be transferred to the 
idea of a nearer effect of the same ; |1 his whole teaching of the 
summation-centers of emotions, so important for pedagogy, 
rests on transposition of emotion. Under summation-centers, 
he understands ''intellectual processes (ideas and judgments), 
to which in the course of life, a great number of emotional states 
have attached themselves, so that with the reproduction of 
such ideas and the reappearance of such judgments, emotional 
experiences from the most diverse temporal divisions of the 
life come to re-echo. ' ' Thus for the individual with good intel- 
lectual and emotional endowment, the idea of the parents, then 
perhaps the idea of a friend, the idea of a life companion and 
in a religious individual, the idea of God would become sum- 
mation-centers of emotion. I say: for the individual with 
good intellectual and emotional endowment, for the emotional 
states which have attached themselves in the course of life 
to those ideas and judgments, are, as one may easily see, set 
free only in smallest part or not at all by the ideas or judg- 
ments themselves, but are rather only transferred upon these 

* Witasek, Grundlinien d. Psych, p. 340. 

fH. Ebbinghaus, Abriss der Psychologie, 3rd ed. (Durr) Leipzig, 
1910, p. 78 f. 

I Same, p. 79. Compare Ebbinghaus-Diirr, Grundziige d. Psych. I, p. 
562. 

II G. Storring, Moralphilos. Streitfragen, Leipzig, 1903, I, p. 
57. 



INTELLECTUAL MANIFESTATIONS 219 

ideas.* In this statement, a transposition of emotion is cor- 
rectly described. Psychoanalysis added only the important in- 
vasion of repressed, thus unconscious, emotional energies and 
showed that the transplantation takes place also upon very 
much more remote ideas. Psychology which preceded psycho- 
analysis has recognized irradiation but not the transposition 
of emotion in its significance. 

B. inteujECTual manifestations 
1. BeducUons {Anesthesia, Inattention, Amnesia). 

Like emotions, intellectual processes may also, under cer- 
tain conditions, be inhibited, weakened or completely frus- 
trated. 

(a) Anesthesia. How an organ of special sense can be 
deprived of its functional capacity, was shown in a sufficient 
number of examples. I described complex-occasioned limita- 
tions or entire loss of sensation of sight (31, 175), hearing 
(96), tactile sensation in the toe (176). By far the most 
frequent phenomenon of this kind is the sexual anesthesia in 
women, which has such a fateful effect and devastates so many 
marriages. That it depends almost always upon repression 
and fixation, no one can deny, who investigates the unconscious 
of persons afflicted by it and eliminates the absence of sensa- 
tion, which is often a very difficult task ; the treatment of this 
condition need not be described in this pedagogic book. It is 
sufficient that the educator should know that this very serious 
evil depends on injurious influences which a correct education 
can avoid. In isolated observations, I found what Sadger 
asserts: "From my psychoanalytic results among sexually 
anesthetic women, I can assert that without exception the basis 
of lack of sexual feeling is formed by incestuous thoughts of 
the father which awakened at the time of puberty and then 
immediately underwent the sharpest suppression, that is, were 
completely forgotten. " f In other cases, the sexuality has 

* Same, p. 123. 

t J. Sadger, Aus d. Liebesleben Nicolaus Lenaus, Leipzig and Vienna, 
1909, p. 9. 



220 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

been rendered loathsome as a whole or the husband was not 
really loved. 

(b) Inattention. It is a known fact that one overlooks un- 
loved persons much easier than loved ones. A striking ex- 
ample of inattention or overlooking is the following. A man 
of middle age discovered some years ago that he could no longer 
see the waning moon, while he often enjoyed watching the 
growing stars. He often undertook to look at the vanishing 
sickle but in spite of all resolutions, the attempt failed, since 
he regularly forgot his intention although every week in win- 
ter, he had to make a long journey at night just before sunrise. 
The analysis revealed the reason : The fugitive from the moon 
has a secret dread of every symbol of age and death. The 
waning moon reminds him of his own decline. The deeper 
motives remained hidden to him since he refused analysis. 
Thus he caught a glimpse of the waning moon only twice in 
the course of four years. 

(c) Amnesia. In the example just quoted, we have ob- 
served besides the inadvertency, an amnesia, in that the resolu- 
tion to look for the waning moon was always forgotten. 
Naturally, most forgetting depends on complexes. A repres- 
sion in our sense does not take place, even though the nar- 
rowness of consciousness and the limitation of capacity for 
reproduction constantly make a separation. On a basis of 
analytic experiences, we conclude that there is a barring by 
resistance only where the forgetting is particularly striking. 

A normal acquaintance in the home of a distant relative was 
asked for the address of his mother when to his astonishment, 
he could not recall the name of the street, although he used it 
every few days and frequently wrote it on letters. The analy- 
sis showed the forgetter that the first syllable of the lost word 
was the same as the name of his brother 's fiancee. The mother 
furthered the engagement and often invited the young lady 
to her dwelling. Now, to the annoyance of the forgetful one, 
the engagement has been broken. The latter, at the solicita- 
tion of his mother, went to the seldom-visited relatives in whose 
presence the forgetting occurred. The relationship-complex 



ANALYSIS OF FORGETTING £^1 

was constellated by the vocation. The memory of the familiar 
street name remained absent because of the painful emotion 
which would have cropped out in this situation. 

Above (181, 211), we mentioned a girl whose little brother 
burned himself in the laundry and who completely forgot the 
tragic event but remembered exactly how, shortly before, she 
sat on the steps and played with the child. 

A young lady visited a book-store to buy "Niels Lyhne" by 
Jakobsen. To her astonishment, she could not think of the 
author's name. In its place, Petersen popped up, but she 
recognized this word as false. In the analysis, the name of 
the father of an editor friend came into her mind, which 
directed her to Jakobsen. That person was an intelligent but 
pedantic man who prevented his son from developing his poetic 
talent. Jakobsen likewise had to struggle to utilize his en- 
dowment. The young lady was herself a poetess and suffered 
from a pedantic father who hindered her mental development. 
She had seen that her infantile fixation on the once deified man 
must be given up. As a school girl, she passionately loved a 
cousin considerably older than herself, who read to her an 
article on Jakobsen. She freed herself from him because he 
was intimate with a married woman and turned out to be 
a woman-chaser. Finally, she came upon the thoughts, Peter- 
sen might be the given-name of the author of "Neils Lyhne." 
Peter is correct. 

As motive for repression, we recognize at once the intention 
to free the poet from his father as the girl would like to free 
herself and the editor friend from their fathers. She makes 
him, as it were, his own father by affixing to his forename, the 
ending, — sen. In addition, the one-time father substitute, 
who wrote the article on Jakobsen, is refused. Further de- 
terminants were not to be found since other matters seemed 
more important. 

In very many psyehoneuroses, an important event is split 
off and the analysis must remove a mass of obstacles from 
the way before the memory may become conscious. Often as 
we know, we are dealing only with phantasies in which re- 



THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

pressed wishes hide. It is always amnesias, however, which lie 
at the bottom of the formation of neurotic symptoms.* Often, 
so-called cover-memories crowd forward which the skilled 
analyst may interpret as proof of a definite trauma. Often, 
it may be said with absolute certainty that this or that must 
have happened, perhaps in one of the first years of life, but 
the person being analyzed may not remember it, even though 
the parents confirm the surmise most decisively. 

Very beautiful examples of forgetting occasioned by repres- 
sion are afforded by Freud in his book, ' ' Zur Psychopathologie 
des Alltagslebens. " f To appreciate them properly, one must 
examine them in all their detail. Every abbreviation is a loss. 
I will give therefore, a not less instructive investigation by 
Jung: ''A gentleman wishes to recite the familiar poem: 

* Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam, etc. ' ( A figtree stands alone. ) 
In the line, 'Ihn schlafert' (He is sleepy), he was completely 
stuck, he had entirely forgotten 'mit weisser Decke' (with 
white covering) . This forgetting in a verse so familiar seemed 
striking to me and I had him reproduce what he associated to 

* mit weisser Decke. ' The following series resulted : In a white 
covering, one thinks of a shroud — a linen cloth with which a 
corpse is covered — (pause) — Now, a close friend comes into 
mind — his brother has just died suddenly — ^he may have died 
of a heart attack — he was too corpulent — my friend is also 
corpulent and I have already thought it might also happen 
to him — he plainly takes too little exercise — when I heard 
of the sudden death, I suddenly became anxious lest it might 
also happen to me since we in our family likewise have a ten- 
dency to corpulence and further, my grandfather died of a 
heart attack; I am also too corpulent and have therefore in 
the last few days started in with a reduction treatment.$ 
Thus the gentleman had unconsciously identified himself with 
the figtree Avhieh was covered M'ith the white mantle." 

* Freud, Psychopathologie d. Alltagslebens, p. 27. 

t Freud, Same, pp. 1-23. 

$ Jung, u. d. Psychologie d. Dementia praeeox, p. 64. 



EXAMPLES OF FORGETTINiG 223 

Of course Jung intentionally gives only the most important 
determinants. If the person being analyzed were sufficiently 
willing, one would certainly have come upon an infantile root 
in this case too. 

In life and also in school-life, this simultaneous uninten- 
tional and intentional forgetfulness play a considerable role. 
A complicated example, but one which affords much insight, 
we gave on page 98 (missed rendezvous) . When an analytic 
patient forgets the appointed hour, one never goes wrong in 
concluding that there is resistance against the analysis. In an 
evening party, the host went into another room to get some 
cigarettes for a guest. Nevertheless, he forgot his intention, 
visited the sleeping children and returned without the desired 
articles. A little analysis revealed the subconscious motive 
for this oversight. The guest owed his host a small sum of 
money and the creditor strove against asking for it. The re- 
pressed wish was able to obtain masked expression. 

Just as much which analytic experience has brought to light 
had been- recognized by keen observers by purely empirical and 
unscientific means in isolated cases, so the forgetting occasioned 
by discomfort had not escaped the attention of a brilliant 
discoverer. Darwin reports: ''When I found a published 
fact, a new observation or a thought, which contradicted one 
of my general results, I noted it down word for word as soon 
as possible. For experience has taught me that such facts and 
results escape the memory easier than those which are pleasant 
to us. " * 

Still more clearly does Bulwer understand amnesia by re- 
pression. He says: ''I repeat, therefore, it is an example of 
the all-destroying tyranny of everyday life that whenever a 
striking event disturbs the regular course of thought and en- 
deavor, it hastens to bury in its sand the object which has be- 
come unpleasant to it ; the mind cannot then push aside quick 
enough a riddle which may influence the reason pathologically ; 
reason seeks to solve it, . . . and we are surprised how quickly 

* Zentralblatt, f. Psychoanalyse I, p. 614, 



224. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

such, incidents, although they are not really forgotten, but can 
be voluntarily recalled again, . . . are, as you might say, 
repressed from the eye of the mind. ' ' * 

Darwin and Bulwer thus have a presentiment of the mechan- 
ism of repression, though the former perhaps did not realize 
the extent of its field of application and the latter, its force 
which leads to complete forgetting. 

Other examples may be found in the Zentralblatt f iir Psycho- 
analyse I, 407 (Freud), 1-497 (Dr. Alfred Meisl), II-84ff. 
(Dr. Ernest Jones), 11-632 (Dr. Karl Weiss), H-GSO (Dr. 
Marie Stegmann), ni-54f. (Dr. Jones). 



2. Cover-Memories 

An extraordinarily fine substantiation of the psychoanalytic 
exploration rule is to be found in the following circumstance : 
when a person is trying to recall a forgotten word or event, 
in the presence of too strong resistance against direct repro- 
duction of the same and a stripping-off of the deviations upon 
constituent parts of the surroundings, an idea comes into 
his mind which is recognized as incorrect but which proves, 
upon closer inspection, to be related to the missing idea. Many 
times when memory is strained, an idea at once pops up which 
is considered the right one but really is not. In the second 
case, we speak of a cover-memory, since consciousness of a real 
memory is produced, while in the first instance, only a memory 
of a cover association. 

Since none of my examples can compare with those of Freud, 
I shall this time borrow an illustration from him : Two men, 
one older than the other, who had traveled together six months 
previously in Sicily, were exchanging reminiscences of those 
beautiful and instructive days "What was the name of the 
place" asked the younger, "where we passed the night in order 
to join the party to Selinus? Calatafimi, wasn't it?" The 
elder refused this : * * Certainly not, but I too have forgotten 

* Reported by Herbert Silberer, Zbl. I, p. 443. 



ANALYSIS OF FORGETTING 225 

the name although I remember very well all the details of our 
stay there. It suffices for me that I notice that when another 
has forgotten a name, immediately the forgetting is induced in 
me. Shall we not seek the name ? No other occurs to me ex- 
cept Caltanisetta which is still certainly not correct." "No," 
says the younger, "the name begins with W or a W precedes 
it." "There is no W in Italian," replied the elder. "I 
meant V and said W because I am so accustomed to it in my 
mother-tongue." The elder struggled against the V. He 
said : "I think I have already forgotten many Sicilian names 
in general; it would be timely to investigate. What is the 
name of the place of high • elevation which in ancient times 
was called 'Enna'? Oh, I know now, Castrogiovanni. " The 
next moment, the younger had also found the lost name. He 
called out: " Castelvetrano, " and rejoiced that the asserted 
V could be proven. The elder still missed for awhile the 
feeling of recognition ; after he had accepted the name, how- 
ever, he attempted to explain how it had escaped him. He 
said: "Plainly, because the second half, vetrano, sounded like 
veteran. I know already that I do not like to think of age and 
react in strange fashion when I am reminded of it. Thus, for 
example, not long ago I reproached a highly esteemed friend 
in most emphatic words with being long past the years of 
youth, because he had once said concerning me in most flat- 
tering words that *I was no longer a young man.' My re- 
sistance to the second half of the name, Castelvetrano, pro- 
ceeded also from the fact that the first sound of the same was 
inverted in the substitute word, Caltanisetta. ' ' And the name, 
Caltanisetta, itself? asks the younger. "That has always 
seemed to me like a pet name for a young woman, ' ' asserted the 
elder. 

A little later, he added: "The name for 'Enna' was also 
only a substitute name. And now it occurs to me that this 
name, Castrogiovanni, sounds the same to giovane-young, as the 
lost name, Castelvetrano, to veteran, old." 

The elder thought he had thus given the reasons for his for- 
getting of the names. From what motive the younger had 



S26 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

come to the same exceptional phenomenon, Avas not investi- 
gated.* 

In this beautiful example, various things are worthy of note. 
At first, it was not certain a priori that the forgetting was 
conditioned on a complex for it is nothing unusual when, a half 
year after an extensive journey, the name of a station is for- 
gotten. But the one who forgot seems to have suspected the 
repression and this is important. It is interesting, how, that 
after the incorrect memory, the theme was left and transferred 
to another. And yet it approached the goal. Thus one pro- 
ceeds in every analysis. Further, the circumstance that instead 
of the repressed word sought for (vetrano), its opposite 
cropped out, is often found. Even without being expressly 
mentioned, the cover word, " Caltanisetta " would be judged to 
have a repressed relation to a young woman and indeed a crea- 
ture as sweet as ardent, since ' ' Anisette ' ' denotes a well known 
liqueur and ' ' calt ' ' contains the stem from ' ' caldo ' ' which de- 
notes hot, hotblooded. 

Whether with the younger man, we may detect from "Cala- 
tafimi" an emotional relation to some kind of "Galathe" we 
shall not investigate. 

How important, a cover-memory can be pedagogically, a 
case from my practice will show. I treated a girl of fourteen 
and a half years for melancholia, severe stuttering and anxiety 
conditions. Even the first reaction-investigation pointed to 
the fact that the drunken foster-father maltreated the wife 
and children and had devastated the youth of the child. An 
enormous number of ugly scenes which had excited the hyster- 
ical child came to expression. The symptoms receded very 
beautifully. After four months of work (one to two hours a 
week), we stumbled on a phantasy which included the motive 
of the severest symptom, the stuttering. 

The speech disturbance broke out on her first school-day. 
The child was terribly afraid of school, struggled to the street 
and had to be carried. Instead of the stern teacher she had 

* Freud, Ein Beitrag zum Vergessen von Eigennamen. Zbl. I, p. 
407 f. 



ORIGIN OF A PHOBIA 227 

been threatened with, the child found an extremely friendly 
woman teacher ; nevertheless, she was so overcome with anxiety 
that she could not speak a word. The girl asserted now in 
the analysis that she had imagined at that time that beside 
every bench there was sitting on left and right a lion and a tiger 
and if a child arose or grasped at the pen-box, the beasts of 
prey hurled themselves on the transgressor to devour her. 

Naturally, an intelligent girl of six and three quarter years 
can have had such an idea of school as little as Leonardo da 
Vinci, as a suckling in the cradle, had a phantasy of a vulture. 
Thus the phantasy must have been projected into that period. 

Even he who is not acquanted with the symbolism of lion 
and tiger may guess the approximate conditions of affairs 
when I make some further additions. The child had suffered 
at that time for some two and three quarter years from severe 
anxiety, uttered anxiety cries in sleep and crept under the 
bed while asleep. The father often came home drunk, late 
at night, the mother snatched her little daughter from the 
bed and fled from the monster to a neighbor's house. Often, 
she called to the raging man: "Don't roar like a lion or 
tiger ! ' ' The father repeatedly threatened the child : ' ' Just 
wait until you come to a stern teacher in school, he will treat 
you quite differently from me!" In addition, other children 
utilized the child's anxiety for school and in jest related hor- 
rible things which were, however, taken in earnest. Thus the 
school became the em-bodiment of all that was terrible. The 
rough treatment on the first school-day brought the long- 
present hysteria to an open outbreak. How much suffering 
the rough measure brought on the girl, from whom, in her 
fifteenth year, no teacher could entice a word ! 

Before I interpreted the phantasy to the girl, she afforded 
a good substantiation of my assumption. In the night follow- 
ing her story, she dreamed she was pursued by a roaring lion 
and an elephant with uplifted trunk. From both animals 
appeared the figure of the father. 

Unfortunately, the completion of the analysis did not occur. 
The recovery of the girl made splendid progress for a time, the 



228 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

stuttering, the headache, anxiety and melancholia disappeared 
almost entirely. Then a sudden deplorable change took place 
for the affairs at home became wretched. 

The father, from whom the mother had lived apart for some 
years, again entered in his earlier role of tormentor of the 
family. The girl was constantly a witness of the intimacies 
of the parents who slept in the same room with her. The 
authorities intervened, the girl was cared for elsewhere and 
the analysis had to be interrupted. 

We will later make the acquaintance of the lion and tiger 
symbols and therewith our causality requirement may be at 
least indirectly satisfied. 

3. ''Deja Yu" {Seen Before) 

Under a * * deja vu, ' ' one understands a falsification of mem- 
ory in which the person thinks he has already experienced 
the present experience. The phenomenon is uncommonly 
widespread. In a mixed class of twenty-four pupils of seven- 
teen years of age, I found sixteen who had had it; in a class 
of sixteen boys fifteen years of age, seven remembered having 
had it. Plato founds his theory of the preexistence of the soul 
on this mysterious experience besides other grounds. 

The analysis explains the phenomenon. Here, only one 
example which unfortunately I cannot show in its connection 
with other neurotic phenomena : It concerns a girl of thirteen 
and three quarter years who, upon her entrance into the 
women 's clinic, was struck with the idea that she had certainly 
been there before and held fast to this belief although she saw 
the impossibility of this assumption. The feeling of acquain- 
tanceship proceeds from a transposition: The pregnant girl 
had two years previously, in another clinic, met a man, swollen 
presumably with small-pox, by whom she was afraid of being 
infected. This patient she compared with her father who had 
once been similarly sick and swollen. Now she was herself 
as pregnant, an infected, swollen person, of course not by that 
patient or the father who was joined to him as a unity but 
probably by her elder brother who held in the family the 



HYPERMNESIA 229 

position of the father who was now dead. Thus far, the feel- 
ing of recognition has its good ground ; only, it is falsely trans- 
ferred from the painful condition of the pregnant one to the 
idea of place instead of being applied to the proper condition. 
I can also give a further determinant of the deja vu. Asked 
to describe the locality and give her associations to it, the 
patient reported: "The feeling of recognition appeared be- 
side a long bench which stood in the hall. We had a similar 
one in the kitchen. Otherwise nothing." [More.] "I re- 
member that at home I was often teased on account of a little 
episode. When I was five years old, I sat one day on that 
bench, laid my hands in my lap and sighed. The maid asked 
me the reason. I answered: 'I am thinking over whom I 
shall later marry.' " The marriage question must have oc- 
cupied the girl much during her pregnancy. It is therefore 
very probable that right by the bench, the deja vu came to 
pass. The scheme familiar to us : ''It is now as at that time" 
came into application.* 

4. Hypermnesia 

It often happens that an apparently insignificant event is 
held by the memory with astounding tenacity. One finds as 
cause that that reproduced experience bears an important 
analogy at the moment of remembering and further that ad- 
ditions of libido have come to it by repression. The girl men- 
tioned on page 221, who recalled how when three years old she 
played on the steps with her little brother, pushed this remin- 
iscence forward because she wished to hide the consciousness 
of guilt for spiteful hatred. The picture of innocent playing 
children would deck the repressed death-wish with a mantle of 
love. Now and then, a real experience of slight importance 
gains, by symbolic interpretation, an important value. 

Ludwig Binswanger has presented us with beautiful ex- 
amples in his instructive "Analyse einer hysterischen 

* Freud gives other examples in his Psychopathologie d. Alltagsleb. 



230 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Phobie"* (Analysis of an hysterical phobia). A girl of 
twenty years recalled that when five and three quarters years 
old, she saw how her boot-heel had become loose. This, in it- 
self, certainly insignificant occurrence gained deep importance 
from the fact that a series of most important thoughts reposed 
in that idea. The most powerful longing, the most intense 
remorse, birth phantasies, death wishes, maximum love and 
hate, an unbelievably widespread material was concentrated 
in the separating boot-heel. 

Other examples are found among the cover-memories and 
above on page 41 ("Pentakosiomedimnen"), under Chapter 
XII, 6b : dream of the Duchess of Angouleme, as well as in my 
article: "Kryptolalie und Kryptographie bei Normalen." t 

It often happens also that an idea has disappeared from 
memory, which cannot be wondered at much, but has reap- 
peared as manifestation, for example, as obsessional idea or 
dream. 

5. The Regression 

If internal or external obstacles block the path of an active 
instinct, the libido flows backwards. The backward-flowing 
movement is called regression. It appears in various forms. 
It is always a return to the infantile (status) and indeed either 
the material bringing to life of juvenile ideas, emotions and 
strivings or the formal renewing of forms of activity which 
were suitable for the juvenile stage. 

a. The regression to infantile contents (mental). This is 
often conscious. Persons who see no hope before them and are 
inhibited in their endeavors, busy themselves much with their 
childhood, for example, persons who are aged and seriously 
ill. Much more frequent still is the subconscious return to 
the first years of life. 

When we dug out the infantile roots of the neurosis, we saw 
old events in the significance of the determinants of the pres- 

* L. Binswanger, Analyse einer hyster. Phobie, Jahrb. Ill, pp. 22S- 
308. 

t Jahrbuch V, p. 142 ff. 



RELIGIOUS GLOSSOLALIA 231 

ent condition. I described particularly plain examples in my 
investigations of religious glossolalia and automatic secret 
writing.* I give below the analysis of the first speech of a 
religious fanatic aged twenty-four. It runs: 

"Esin gut efflorien meinosgat schinohaz daheit wenes- 
gut nar wossalaitsch enogaz to lorden hat wuscheuehat meno- 
feite lor; si wophantes menelor gut menofeit hi so met da 
lor." 

]\Iost of the words call forth associations without difficulty 
which I repeat in the following paragraphs : 

1. [Esin.] Nothing. 

2. [Gut.] My grandfather always said I was a good boy. 
"When a child, I always had the word good (gut) in my mouth, 
for example, good mother, good apple. (I left this word too 
quickly.) 

3. [Efflorien.] My father's employer once said he would 
take me with him to Florence. That made me glad. When I 
was prevented, I was disappointed. [Efflorien.] Perhaps I 
have a dim recollection : That gentleman said, in Florence we 
shall visit the zoo, there we will see an elephant. ' ' Eff " refers 
to elephant. The elephant in Basel is still fresh in my mind : 
When we were standing in front of him, he took the hat ofE a 
girl and stamped on it. 

4. [Meinosgat.] Something quite clear comes to mind: 
When eleven years old, I lost a very dear friend by name of 
Oskar, whose death overwhelmed me, so that I went around 
for awhile like a shadow. [IMeinosgat.] I said "Osgar" not 
Oskar. [At.] I often accompanied him to a studio (Atelier) 
in which I admired the beautiful things. 

5. [Schinohaz.] Refers to my school time. We had a 
teacher who beat us terribly and made us learn fearfully. 
Once I said to a friend : ' ' Der Lehrer tue einem fast das Herz 
'abschinegeln.' " That is a common expression in that re- 
gion. My friend complained of me to the teacher who gave 
me four blows. "Haz" refers to heart. I was also fearfully 

* Jahrbuch III, also separate imprint by Deuticke, Leipzig and 
Vienna, 1912. 



232 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

tormented by the boys because I went to the meetings. They 
persecuted me, fleeced me of my goods, 

6. [Daheit.] Perhaps also on account of school time. We 
had a new pupil who was always saying: "Da heit me gseh" 
(Swiss colloquialism meaning "Da hat man gesehen" = There 
was seen), "da heit me gha" ("gehabt" = had), etc. We 
found this funny; we rushed after him calling "Da heit, da 
heit. ' ' He turned and struck me on the ears. 

7. [Wenesgut.] ]\Iy mother was always saying, for in- 
stance, to a good report : " If it goes well, the father will give 
you thus and so." Once I received from a teacher an honor- 
reward of two francs for the best composition, another time I 
won a first prize in climbing. More often, however, it did not 
go well ; in a swimming race, I would have been drowned in 
the middle of a pond if someone had not helped me. [Nar] 
I think that belongs to the following, 

8. [Narwossalaitsch.] That is a little difficult. I think of 
everything so childish. We once had a visit from a negro who 
spoke his mother tongue. Each of us pupils would repeat 
something after him. I was nine or ten years old. Perhaps 
the word given (narwossalaitsch) was among those words. All 
the others could repeat a little piece, I could not. I was afraid 
of the negro on account of his teeth and lips. He had a beauti- 
ful watch of which I was very covetous. In general, I longed 
for everything which I saw. That was a great vice. I was 
often tempted to steal. Now, no longer. 

9. [Enogaz.] Might one associate this word with a cat? 
When I was eleven years old, we four comrades went over the 
country and came across a cat. Two put it in a bag and ex- 
plained that they would strike and kill the animal. My com- 
rade and I protested but they did the deed nevertheless. We 
turned around at once and informed the teacher about it. 
[Eno.] Might one not write that, eine (=one) ? 

10. [To lorden (English expression from lord).] The 
"lord" reminds me of an experience from my thirteenth year. 
Because of nervous weakness and pains in all the nerves, I had 



RELIGIOUS GLOSSOLALIA 233 

been taken out of school. A distinguished English preacher 
came along and delivered a sermon in which the ever-recurring 
word "lord" struck me. He spoke also of the Lord Mayor of 
London and his splendor. The latter, he compared with the 
glory of heaven. This impressed me powerfully. I read also 
in a newspaper of a lord. My mother taught me, however, 
that God is greater than all the lords of England. I dreamed 
from that, that I also possessed that splendor. 

11. [Hat.] I think that word stands for itself. My 
grandfather took me once into a church tower. While he was 
ringing the bell, the clapper struck me on the head and I was 
almost killed. Hereupon, I was dismissed with a stick. That, 
I have always before my eyes. [Hat.] I think of *'hat" 
as "hat gethan" (have as have done). (Postscript five 
months later: Evil mouths persecuted me at the time of the 
speaking with tongues, but their effort reached me not.) 

12. [Wuschenehat.] Wusch means wash. We had a ser- 
vant maid whose name reminds me of the second and third 
syllables of the word. Once she played with me during the 
washing and the linen scorched. That caused a great fuss 
because of which, she left us. I was innocent. 

13. [Menofeite.] Is not that an English word ? It seems to 
me that I have heard it in the previously mentioned English 
sermon, still it is quite hazy to me. "Men" is English, for 
instance, good man = guter Mann. [Menofeite.] Now it 
comes to mind. The Englishman spoke of different sects, also 
of that of Mrs. White, then of the religious war between Spain 
and England and of the destruction of the Spanish fleet. By 
this, he wished to show that we also have to fight with invisible 
forces. [Mrs. White.] The Adventist. I find she cannot 
defend her position. Many Adventists wished in vain to con- 
vert us. The Englishman called them dependent because they 
were led by women. My mother was angry at this because she 
felt herself attacked. 

14. [Lor.] If it is "Lora," I can interpret it. The em- 
ployer of my father had a horse named Lora with which I was 



234 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

very friendly when a child. One day it kicked when the groom 
tormented it and hit me on the leg. [Si.] I can 't make any- 
thing out of that. 

15. [Si wo.] Perhaps that refers again to a child's game. 
One day we played hide and seek. "Si wo" means: ''See, 
where are you!" I lost myself in the forest and wandered 
around for three hours. 

16. [Phantes.] Phantasy. The teacher scolded us when 
we spoke falsely: "You phantasy." Once he wrote under 
a composition: "Nice phantasy." That bothered me. 

17. [Menelor.] Mene, is it? One might translate that, 
meine (=mine). In the factory, I helped my father on a 
Saturday afternoon. There I had to pass with needles through 
lowries, that is, trucks. A needle point penetrated deep into 
my finger and broke off. The physician could get it out only 
with difficulty. 

18. [Gut.] As before. If it was good. [Gut.] At a 
wedding feast, I retained the cover after each course. Sud- 
denly I had a whole stack of eating utensils lying about me 
and was laughed at so much that I was fearfully embarrassed. 

19. [Menofeit.] That, we have already had. "Man of the 
White." The mother said afterwards that she did not think 
it proper for the Englishman to be so personal, one might 
also expose much among his adherents. [Hi.] Nothing. 

20. [Hiso.] A half-witted workman in the factory always 
said: "Hi, hi" and "So, so." The others mimicked him, 
I, however, protected him. 

21. [Met.] One might translate it: mit (with). Once I 
went out with my father and the baby carriage. When we 
were far from home, a heavy hail storm came up. We could 
still quickly find shelter in a barn. Tiles and windows were 
broken. We were greatly afraid. 

22. [Da lor.] Again the scene in the factory. The chief 
severely reprimanded my father because he gave me such a 
difficult task. Since then I can no longer do it. 

Later additions: 

1. [Esin.] I could almost trace that back to recent time. 



RELIGIOUS GLOSSOLALIA 235 

When I expressed doubt eonceming the speaking with tongues, 
one accused me of being an intellectual fancy-monger. 
"Esin" means "ein Sinn" and refers to the fact that I will 
brood over everything with my mind. 

2. [Gut.] I worked on a written article, the conclusion of 
which I did not find for a long while. Now, however, all is 
well. 

3. [Efflorien.] The journey to Florence came to naught like 
the elephant 's hat. 

4. [Meinosgat.] Memory of my friend Oskar. 

Since the subsequent words brought nothing new to light, 
I broke off, certainly much too early to gain the complex which 
was already peeping through and to which the various asso- 
ciations point back as to the common point of convergence, 
as the rays which break forth behind a wall, in spite of their 
diverging directions, point to a central place. I asked there- 
fore: [Has a common characteristic of all your associations 
become clear to you?] All concern the period of my youth. 
[Pleasant experiences?] No, rather unpleasant. [Certainly, 
only all finally turn out well. What do you say now? Do 
you wish to console yourself with that, because at present you 
have trouble on your heart?] It is so! I am in trouble be- 
cause of my future, my existence. I have an inclination to 
study, to have a theological education and do not know how 
to begin. Thus I suffer from a constant internal strife. 

From results which we will later submit to the reader, we 
assume the right to formulate the meaning of the regressions 
to childhood in the following manner: 

Word in secret Idea conditioned by Relief for complex 

speech complex 

1. Esin I foster doubts of my Never mind. Only your 

secret speech. brooding mind doubts. 

2. gut They doubt my kindness You were always a good 

of heart (necessary in son and man. 
ministerial profession ) 
( later expressly con- 
firmed). 



236 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

3. efflorien The disappointment re- Nothing to it; it was 

garding Florence; an un- only as if an elephant 
lucky man cannot study, destroyed a hat. 

4. meinosgat You poor thing, you lost You possess the true 

your truest friend. heart necessary for a 

minister. (Over-com- 

pensation for internal 
accusations of unworthi- 
aess for the profession.) 

5. schinohaz Persecution by teacher I was innocent, suffered 

and fellow pupils. for my uprightness and 

pious conviction. 

6. daheit Persecution by fellow There was no guilt, only 

pupils. harmless jest. 

7. wenesgut Misfortune in a swim- Fortunate salvation from 

ming race. death; virtuous deeds. 

8. narwossalaitsch Deficient talent in speak- Genius for secret speech. 

ing, eovetousness. Freedom from covetous- 

ness. 

9. enogaz Persecution by fellow You suffer on account of 

pupils, deficient author- jyour fondness for ani- 
ity among comrades. mals. 

10. to lorden Ambition, love of splen- Now I long only for the 

dor. Lord of Heav^. 



11. hat 



You were careless in a That childish careless- 
church and came into ness has long been atoned 
mortal danger. for. (The verb denotes 

in Swiss German the 
preterite, for which in 
this dialect, there is no 
simple form ; perhaps 
there is also a contrac- 
tion of "hart" since 
there maj' be a play on 
the harshness of the bell 
striking on the head.) 



RELIGIOUS GLOSSOLALIA 



23t 



12. wuscheneliat 



13. menofeite 



14. lor 

15. si wo 

16. phantes 

17. menelor 

18. gut 

19. monofeit 

20. hiso 



21. met 

22. da lor 



The dallying with a The guilt was entirely 

girl brought unpleasant on the girl's part, 
things. 

I allow myself to be di- I have refused the Ad- 

rected by women and am ventists directed by a 

accordingly dependent, woman, thus am inde- 

(This reproach appears pendent; for tlie rest, 

plainly later.) that reproach against 
those influenced by 
women is exaggerated. 

You suffered a misfor- The groom alone was 

tune from a trusted guilty, the misfortune 

horse. had a good ending. 



I am in the wrong. 



I corrected myself. 



My phantasy was des- (Phantasy is also a val- 
pised. uable talent.) 

My clumsiness in the That work which was 
factory injured me. too hard for your age 

should not have been 
assigned to you. 

You have already made That was only a social 
a fool of yourself. bagatelle. 

You are ruled by Others have perhaps 
women. still greater faults. 

You were mocked as a You have gallantly taken 
fool. the part of the feeble- 

minded, hence the mock- 
ery against you. 



A storm threatened. 



You were protected. 



Again the accident with It was not mine, but my 
the lowries. father's mistake. 



The memory of one-time adversities and the harmless char- 
acter of these is plainly called forth as in dream, hallucination, 



238 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

hysterical symptom, obsessional neurotic phenomenon and 
other automatisms by present needs which possess similarity 
to those infantile experiences. It is not difficult to derive 
these present tormenting impressions which have taken flight 
in the secret speech and there manifest themselves in suggestive 
manner from the secret speech. 

The thinking of our subject is forced back into childhood 
by the circumstance that the young man sees himself inhibited 
in his career. He must satisfy himself with his infantile re- 
pressions. His wish is plainly to become a regular minister. 
Against this wish, there arise grave doubts which, under the 
threshold of consciousness, awaken memories of youthful ex- 
periences, which memories, by the relationship of these ex- 
periences to the present situation, seemingly strengthen those 
doubts; but by the favorable outcome of the experiences and 
upon closer consideration, the memories support the opposite 
view, indeed, at times, change into fortunate results supporting 
the present wish. 

In brief, the secret speech says : You possess the necessary 
religious, moral and intellectual qualifications to be able, with 
God's help, to become a minister in spite of persecution and 
misfortune. That in delusion, all earlier ideas of a person 
are reflected, has already been recognized by the poet Hebbel.* 

When we have opportunity to analyze thoroughly the dreams 
and manifestations of normal individuals, we find constantly, 
such infantile traces, to which they have gone back because 
the present was opposed to a passionate wish. 

Poetry is full of such regressions. In Johann Schlaf's 
"Friihling," we read these lines: ''Here I lay, now, under 
my hawthorn, playing and wandering to my heart's content." 
"And now I am a child again." ''Putting the head deeper 
in the grass. Now making my longing, perceiving mind 
smaller and ever smaller and now I am quite wee small 
again." t Does this not remind us of Jung's patient in the 

*r. Hebbel, Tagebiicher Vol. I, 3 (March 29, 1835). 
t Cited by Richard Hamann, Der Impressionismus in Leben u. Kunst. 
Koln, 1907, p. 92. 



SYMBOLIZING REGRESSION S39 

climacteric, who felt as if her arms and legs were all the time 
growing smaller and who wished to be carried and felt how she 
let herself go?* Hebbel says very truly in his "Genoveva": 

" It is life 's worst malady to still know what we were, when 
we are that no longer. There, would we creep back into our 
roots, but in vain. ' ' f 

This longing often expresses itself as longing for the mother 
with those who strive against the delusion, for example, Hol- 
derlin and Lenau.J 

Further, infantile acts are resumed in the regression. A 
gentleman, aged thirty-six, who was undergoing analysis on 
account of impotence, reports that he brought candy home 
to his wife, something he had never done during a married 
life of ten years and afterwards regarded as childish. The 
forces of libido freed in the analysis, he cannot at once utilize 
properly. As a child, he often brought his mother similar 
delicacies. 

An important variety of the process under discussion is 
the symbolizing regression. Freud gives the following ex- 
ample of this phenomenon: "In the parent-complex, we 
recognize the root of the religious need ; the almighty, just God 
and kindly Nature seem to us to be perfect sublimations of 
the father and mother, still more as renewals and restorations 
of the early infantile conceptions of these two persons. Bio- 
logically, the religious life goes back to the long persisting help- 
lessness and need for assistance of the little human child, who, 
when he has later recognized his real destitution and weakness 
in comparison with the great force of life, feels his position 
just as in childhood and seeks to deny his wretchedness by 
the regressive renewal of infantile protective measures." || 
Thus, this would be a regression which sets up, instead of the 
infantile parent-image, a symbolical representative of the same. 
From this circumstance, follows the very important fact that 

* Riklin, Wunscherfiillung u. Sjonbolik im Marchen, page 13. 
t Hebbel, Genoveva, Act III, Scene 4. 
$ Lenau, Sonette (Der Seelenkranke.) 

II Freud, Leonardo, 57. I scarcely need to add that I cannot con- 
sider tlie problem of religious truth as solved therewith. 



240 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

the contents of tlie regression do not necessarily disclose 
former ideas and wishes but later elaborations and investments 
of these ideas and wishes. Nothing prevents, therefore, con- 
sidering incestuous regression ideas as such and interpreting 
them the same as other symbols so long as the infantile incestu- 
ous wish is not shown to be an universal human factor. On 
this point, more exact investigations are to be awaited. 

b. Regression to Infantile Forms of Activity 

The child is not capable of a scientific mode of thinking. 
He thinks in pictures, likenesses. The adult, too, who goes 
in pursuit of scientific prey is, under circumstances when he 
does not attain his goal, thrown back upon this infantile 
thinking in pictures; such circumstances are fatigue, weak- 
ness from disease or toxins, for example, alcohol) and other 
injuries to consciousness. For a beautiful example, we are 
indebted to Alfred Robitsek who subjected one of the most 
important of the more recent discoveries in the field of chemis- 
try, that of the benzol ring by Kekule to an analytic investiga- 
tion. Kekule described at the twenty-fifth anniversary of that 
discovery, how he sank into a dreamy state on the roof of an 
omnibus : The atoms flitted about before me, many times two 
smaller ones joined to form a pair, larger ones embraced two 
smaller, still larger, three and even four. He spent part of 
the night in putting this dream structure on paper and thus 
sprang into existence the celebrated structural theorj'-. It 
happened similarly with the benzol theory : Again the atoms 
danced before his dreaming eyes. A snakelike movement be- 
gan. "And see, what was that? One of the snakes seized 
his own tail and mockingly whirled the structure before my 
eyes. I awoke as by a stroke of lightning; this time too, I 
needed the remainder of the night to work out the consequences 
of this hypothesis. ' ' * The great chemist added wittily : 
' ' Let us learn to dream, gentlemen, then perhaps we shall find 
the truth; 

* A. Robitsek, Symbol. Denken in der chem. Forschg. Imago I, 83-90. 



HYPNOID HALLUCINATIONS 241 

"And. lie who thinks not, 
To him it is sent, 
He has it without trouble." 

but let US guard against publishing our dreams until they 
have been tested by the waking reason. ' ' * 

Silberer, who first investigated this kind of hypnoid hal- 
lucinations, describes the mechanism in these words: "The 
psychic content produced by the meditation, or in broader 
sense, by the disturbance, is perceived, because of the sleepy 
confusion, not in the form corresponding to its normal apper- 
ception, but in a distinct picture converted into a symbol and 
hallucinated as such in accord with the circumstances. These 
autosymbolical phenomena constitute fatigue phenomena and 
a regression from a difficult mode of thought to an easier, 
more primitive type. This process, which is called according 
to Freudian terminology, "regression," denotes a displace- 
ment from an abstract form of thought to a pictorial form and 
from the apperceptive train of thought to the associative." t 

This regression can also be called reversion. In the fully 
conscious waking state, stimuli proceed from the object to the 
organ of perception, join subconscious mental activities and 
lead to motor discharges. In the hallucinatory dream, ac- 
cording to Freud, the excitation takes a regressive course, 
spreading out over the sensory part of the apparatus instead 
of the motor part, and finally ending in the system of per- 
ceptions.! Even the intentional memory has regressive char- 
acteristics, only it does not create like the dream, pictures ani- 
mated in hallucinatory fashion. "We call it regression when 
the idea in the dream changes back into the sensual picture 
from which it has once proceeded." || That the infantile 
wishes are also thereby awakened in pictorial form in the 
sleeping-room of memory, has already been explained. 

We find this functional regression in the dream, in the hal- 

*Same, p. 87. 

t Herbert Silberer, Phantasie u. Mythos. Jahrb. II, p. 605. 

X Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 362. 

II Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 363. Witz, p. 138. 



242 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

lucination, in the waking phantasy, while the regression of 
content takes place unconsciously all the time when certain 
conditions are fulfilled. 

The necessity and biological significance of regression is 
shown in two directions. Causally: One can show that the 
repressed wishes of childhood remain preserved in the disposi- 
tion and manifest themselves upon every opportunity. Teleo- 
logically : One may point out that the unity of the personality 
can remain intact only on condition that the libido continually 
goes back to the initial stage of life.* Finally: The inter- 
ests of the present, the acute wishes and needs seek to derive 
hope and consolation from the memory of analogous experi- 
ences, long past, which had favorable terminations. Our 
childhood contains the deposits on which we draw when the 
present oppresses us. But hate which gets intoxicated in plans 
for revenge, envy and jealousy also draw their strength from 
the infantile stage. Childhood is no Garden of Eden, where 
only beautiful flowers and spicy fruits grow. It is a forest 
which harbors besides the strawberries, the deadly nightshade, 
besides the roe, the wolf. It is of immeasurable importance 
for a human life, whether the ever-recurring enforced retreat 
into the land of childhood presents friendly or hateful pictures 
for contemplation. Eiehard Wagner expresses this purpose 
of regression sharply and clearly in these words: "All our 
wishes and ardent inclinations, which, in truth, carry us over 
into the future, we seek to fashion from pictures of the past 
into sensual perceptibility in order to gain for ourselves the 
form which the modern present cannot furnish them," t 

* G. F. Lipps rightly says: "Our consciousness gives us simul- 
taneously with the perception of passing present events, memories of 
the past, and on a basis of such memories, puts much before our eyes 
which we expect only from the future. It is, hov/ever, also dependent 
on all that which we experience and have experienced, without our 
having emphasized it separately and been able to distinguish it from 
other material. Thus it gains a quality which characterizes our whole 
design in its unified existence and reveals itself as the feeling in which 
our personality, our ego, finds expression." (Das Problem der Willens- 
freiheit, p. 80.) 

t 0. Rank, Die Lohengrinsage, p. 134. 



ATAVISTIC REGRESSION 243 

"While the free individual experiences from his contact with 
his childhood no inhibition to his forward striving, the psycho- 
neurotic remains stuck in the regression to the infantile. We 
could see this in particular where we penetrated to childhood. 
If we investigate a refractory person who seeks quarrels with 
all in authority, we find as root of the trouble, the regression 
to the attitude of defiance which the child assumed toward his 
father and the fixation in this fatal infantilism. One can call 
the psychoneurosis a regressive attachment or fixation in the 
regression. 

The pedagogic problem which the analysis forces upon us, 
is therefore illuminated from a new standpoint: separation 
from the bonds of childhood, release from infantilism, so far 
as these influence the control of the present and conquest of 
the future, becomes a problem, on the mastery of which, much 
of happiness and value in life depends. 

e. The Atavistic Regression 

Freud recognized that in dreams and similar products of 
the mental life, structures recur which correspond both in con- 
tent and origin to the mythological creations of primitive peri- 
ods. He thinks it probable that myths correspond to the dis- 
torted wish phantasies of whole nations, the secular dreams of 
young humanity.* In the dream and in the neurosis, he again 
finds the savages, the primitive men with the peculiarities of 
their mode of thought and of their affect life, t Jung, in par- 
ticular, perceived that in the delusional structures of dementia 
praecox, the old mythology and archaic philosophical speculation 
recurs. This agreement became so certain upon extended 
investigations that he ventured to interpret mythology from 
phenomena observed in patients and vice versa. The revivi- 
fication, he considers not a material one but only a functional 
one, so that archaic traces of memory might yield their mem- 
ories to those suited to them. The neurotic producing archaic 

* Freud, Der Diehter u. d. Phantasieren. Kl. Sehriften II, p. 205. 
t Freud, Nachtrag zu d. autobiogr. beschrieb. Fall von Paranoic. 
Jahrbuch III, p. 590, 



244 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

content is in a psychological constellation similar to that of the 
son of antiquity, hence he creates strikingly similar formations. 

These extraordinarily keen investigations, executed with 
great sharpness of vision and astounding scholarship, owe 
their origin to insight won by analysis.* But in this as in 
so many other questions which we seek to solve in this book, 
it turned out afterwards that superior students of humanity, 
especially poets and philosophers, had even earlier perceived 
the true state of affairs. Nietzsche had already formulated 
the statement: "In sleep and dream, we perform the whole 
task of early humanity" . . . "The dream brings us back 
again to the distant states of human culture and provides 
us a means for better understanding them. ' ' t 

This problem, which the application of biogenetic basic 
principles to the mental development proposes, is not of suffi- 
cient pedagogic importance to warrant my devoting a detailed 
discussion to it. 

Every neurosis is a manifestation of infantilism, not only 
because it constantly revives infantile phantasies but also be- 
cause it represents an infantile form of functioning. Hence 
the task of healing the neuroses is the conquest of the infan- 
tilism, of the regression to childhood and the abolition of this 
anachronism. 

6. The Condensation 

If we apply the analytic basic principle (page 8) to 
a manifestation, we gain material which greatly exceeds that 
manifestation in extent. Often, an apparently incidental trait 
of the complex-product points to an important episode or phan- 
tasy. Therein, one and the same sign has for determinants 
a whole series of reminiscences or other ideas, so that behind 
the "manifest content," there lurks a number of "latent com- 

* Jung lays weight on the circumstance that he did not construct 
his libido-theory from mythological studies but found in these studies, 
a confirmation of the insight into the processes of the libido gained 
empirically. 

t Nietzsche, llenschliches, Allzumenschliches. Cited by Jung, Wand- 
lungen u. Symbole der Libido. Jahrb. Ill, p. 142. 



COMPOSITE STRUCTURES 245 

plex thoughts, ' ' unconscious motives, and hence also, many in- 
terpretations are necessary in order to reveal exhaustively the 
mental content of the manifestation. Such formations are 
called stratifications. One is often much surprised at what 
an extensive material may spring from a very simple complex- 
formation as sum of motives. 

In every manifestation, a condensation work comes to ex- 
pression. This is most striking to external observation when 
contents are imposed on one another which in reality do not 
belong together at all, it may be that one single figure is created 
from heterogenous characteristics (composite figure), it may 
be that one complete act is executed in unrelated, mutually in- 
appropriate sections. Such condensation formations often 
appear downright comical. This ludicrous result of many a 
condensation cannot surprise us for one whole group of witti- 
cisms depends on condensation. 

(a) THE COMPOSITE FORMATION 

"We have already seen examples of such mental action. I 
call to mind, for instance, the vision of the devil (page 38). 
My patient recognized in the devil, who was at first unfa- 
miliar, the hair and rough hands of his enemy whom he had 
called a devil, then the nose of a girl concerning whom the 
evil fellow had maligned our hallucinating patient. In 
reality, the nose did not suit a strange face at all. As expres- 
sion of the unconscious wish : ' ' May you carry with you in 
your face the mark of shame for your desire for calumny ! " it 
is in its right place. 

Wherever in dream or other manifestations, there appears 
an unknown figure, a strange face, a phantastic object, a sense- 
less word-formation or the like, there is almost always con- 
densation. In general, the analysis succeeds wherever it is ap- 
plied in dissolving these false structures into well-known mem- 
ories and the phantastic elaboration of these. An internal 
connection between the characteristics apparently thrown to- 
gether so senselessly, will never be lacking in such cases. 

Freud made the discovery that those portions of the mani- 



246 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

festations which appear most persistently, do not betray the 
places behind which the strongest masses of affect lurk, but 
that in which the most concentrated condensation-work oc- 
curred.* 

The pupil mentioned on page 67, who frankly admitted her 
hatred of her parents and brothers, suffered, every evening, 
from severe anxiety. Frequently, she hallucinated a man who 
disappeared behind her bed. She could not describe him 
clearly but had the impression that she did not know him. 
The eyes were exactly like those of a boy three years older 
than herself, who, eight years before, had seduced her, and 
in company with her brother and one of his school comrades 
had repeatedly misused her sexually. Other features, espe- 
cially beard and stature, belonged to a man of forty years with 
whom she had become acquainted not long before, still others 
to her grandfather and the analyst. The patient was fond 
of masochistic and sadistic dreams: she is undressed by her 
naked father, tormented on the table and whipped. In the 
first weeks of the treatment, she brought the analyst into her 
phantasies in astonishingly numerous and clever devices. For 
the past two years, she has observed almost every night the 
sexual intercourse of her parents, to which the mother inter- 
posed vigorous objection. On these occasions, the girl dis- 
played a rage at her father and a strong orgasm which she 
was accustomed to call forth voluntarily by day. 

Also in waking life, she condensed constantly: Father, 
grandfather, teacher and analyst plainly have for her the eyes 
of her seducer, even though they differ according to the testi- 
mony of the girl, in color, size and position from those of that 
person. The reason for this condensation consisted in the 
fact that for the young catatonic patient, being looked at is 
toned with the strongest sexual emotions, corresponding to 
her unfortunate past. All the persons united in the composite 
figure belong together as libido-objects and form a unit for her. 
A longer analysis would certainly have traced back still other 
characteristics of the hallucination to their real origin in the 

* Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 260, 



ANALYSIS OF HALLUCINATIONS 247 

longed-for men. But the case was far too serious to allow 
psychological curiosity to dwell on the phenomenon too long. 

There was also a condensation in the circumstance that for 
years the patient could only think of men as having erect 
penises: She combined the pictures of the young seducer, 
some exhibitionists whom she wished to have seen and of her 
father with those of other male persons. Jesus alone formed 
an exception: He was the only man who did not come into 
consideration as a sexual being. 

When, after some months, the hallucinations recurred, simul- 
taneously with the anxiety, religious phantasies began to be 
formed which bore almost visionary distinctness. The girl saw 
God whom she could not endure, standing in the air while she 
was most glad to pray to the Savior. His facial features 
changed from hour to hour or even during the consultation, 
so that for a time, the analysis was almost entirely spent in de- 
ciphering these astonishingly condensed features which were 
extraordinarily productive in religious psychological meanings. 

I can give only a few sketches. At first, God appeared as 
human-like figure, some two meters in height, standing above 
a forest. His features were similar to those of an "old" 
(fifty years) cousin on her father's side, a stingy, bigoted pietist 
whom she hated even more than most other men. He con- 
tributed to the God-picture the dark features, the brown skin, 
the eyes and particularly the eyebrows. But the mother also 
contributed : the flabby face musculature of the phantasy figure 
came from her. The beard belonged to a St. Nicholas and to 
old Pastor J. The eyebrows pointed somewhat to the younger 
Pastor C. The nose was entirely that of the analyst. 

In explanation, it may be added: The patient knows of 
God, who was always described to her as "father," only un- 
pleasant things : He changed Lot 's wife, who had only turned 
around quickly, into a pillar of salt. He sent a plague of 
locusts. Both narratives the girl has extensively elaborated: 
She herself like Lot's wife had turned around in unallowed 
manner in order to observe her parents. The pillar of salt 
resembled an iron maiden in which men were killed. In this 



248 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

phantasy was reflected the truly demoniacal hatred of the 
child for the masculine world. The plague of locusts reminded 
the little patient of how such insects jumped under her skirt 
and clung to her legs, of which she was violently afraid. 

The girl called God mean in full consciousness because he 
left her burning desire for sexual pleasure unsatisfied. The 
child, who for the rest seemed to be a model of propriety and 
innocence, told me soon after the beginning of the analysis 
that she had firmly decided a long time ago to yield herself 
sexually to the first boy or man that came along. Only after 
elimination of the anxiety, could the gross desire of the girl, 
who deep down was good-natured but corrupted by sexual 
brutality in childhood and misdirected pedagogy of her par- 
ents, be directed to higher paths. 

Behind the stingy cousin, naturally lurked the likewise 
supposedly miserly, but in reality often financially embar- 
rassed father, who constantly preached morality (and for the 
rest, was a very virtuous, upright man). 

The flabby cheeks of God, plainly marked by a wrinkle, re- 
minded her of how the mother in a severe illness, five years 
before, seemed to die. St. Nicholas was not long taken earn- 
estly. Soon, he became only a comic figure. The old Pastor 
J. was a tiresome, infirm man who probably had not long to 
live. The young Pastor C. was hated because of his strictness. 
The analyst showed the sign of the so-called "negative trans- 
ference" (see below), that is, he had to bear the hatred which 
is really thought against the persons mentioned in the analy- 
sis. Plainly, he should, like the father, mother, cousin, St. 
Nicholas and the two pastors, come to God and be taken away 
from earth. Again the hypocritically pious wish which we 
found in the vision of the angel (37). For what better can 
anyone wish a person than that he should be with God ? 

After this exploration, for some days, the phantom appeared 
blasphemous with funny face but this grimace was also easily 
removed by analysis. There followed a picture of God which 
took the sun as subject. The body had disappeared, the hairs 
stood out like a halo. The face was totally different. Its 



COMPOSITE FIGURES 249 

expression recalled that of a bird of prey, then further that 
of Pastor L. and still further those of Calvin and Bonnivard. 
The beardlessness corresponded with that of her grandfather 
and that of a Mormon she knew. The eyes were those of the 
avaricious Itzig in Freytag's "Soil und Haben." 

The aspect of this new God was plainly entirely new. His 
psychic content has remained about the same as of old. The 
halo was associated with the hair of a little devil or of Peter 
Scrubby. Thus, scorn for God still prevails. 

Pastor L. is a prominent preacher but a fanatic and enemy 
of enlightenment like Calvin who also proclaimed a gloomy 
God. Bonnivard lived for years as a prisoner chained to a 
pillar. The patient wished this fate upon all figures who were 
banished in the God phantasy. The pastor was likewise old 
like her father and cousin. The mother greatly revered him. 
Before he was associated with God's picture, he had been very 
ill and became helpless. Helpless also was the grandfather 
represented in the picture of God, who was always glad to 
admonish and preach. The Mormon was a rough peasant 
who had a pious countenance, did unbelievable things and 
spoke of being in love with canary birds but wished to entice 
quite different birds. The grandfather also spoke of being 
in love with the caged bird. The avaricious Itzig again empha- 
sized a prominent trait of the old cousin. 

Again there was crammed into the idea of God, fanaticism, 
gloomy nature, nagging, tiresome moralizing, avarice and to 
that a mean opinion. As punishment, helplessness appeared 
and again perhaps death. Hatred toward other people was 
thus set free on God. 

I pass over the subsequent transformations. After some 
further attempts to save the blasphemous phantasies, these 
disappeared completely. The healing, however, came to pass 
only later. 

Plain condensation work was executed by the unconscious, 
as we have mentioned, in a category of witticisms which we 
call "condensation witticisms." From the great collection of 
Freud 's I will select an example from Heine : The proud as- 



250 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

sertion of the Jewish chiropodist and lottery collector, Hya- 
cinth, that he had been treated by Baron Rotschild "ganz 
f amillionar. " The poor little Jew, under whose figure, 
Heine portrays himself,* intends to say: The Baron met me 
familiarly (familiar) as far as a millionaire may — a thought 
which certainly often passed through the mind of the poet in 
the house of his distinguished relative. 

A witticism similarly composed appears in the third chapter 
of the same writing by Heine : Upon remembering his little 
stepfatherland, the little Jew sighed: "What is man? One 
walking satisfied from the Altonaer gate to the Hamburg 
mountain and there seeing the sights, the lions, the birds, the 
'Papagoyim, ' the monkeys, the noted men . . . ." "Papa- 
goyim" is composed by amalgamation of "Papageien" and 
. "goyim," heathen, contemptuous Jewish word for stranger. 
The word "Papa" is thus wittily joined with "goy." Be- 
hind lurks again Heine's distinguished father-substitute, the 
uncle, who would have preferred to behave as a stranger 
toward the poorly clad poet but could not, because he was a 
relative. Under the "Papageien" may further have been 
understood the elegant cousins whom Heine now denies as 
strangers (goyim) to him. Thus the composite word eon- 
tains a sneer at the cold comfort of his relatives and at his near 
relations to these people created by his birth, and his distant 
relations created by psychological factors. 

Leo Spitzer has pointed out the condensation as important 
speech-forming phenomenon in his investigations concerning 
"Die Wortbildung als stilistisches Mittel" (Word Formation 
as Means of Style), particularly in "Rabelais." f 

* Freud, Witz, p. 119. To Freud's examples, I will add another: 
Chapter 6, Heine seizes the foot of the beautiful Franzeska; chapter 8, 
Hyacinth speaks of the pleasure of holding in his hands the little white 
foot of the beautiful lady. Thus Heine identifies himself with his comic 
hero. 

t Leo Spitzer, Die Wortbildung als stilistisches Mittel. Exemplified 
in Rabelais. Halle, 1910. (Compare H. Sachs, Zbl. I, 240). 



VAGINISMUS 251 

(P) THE SUPERIMPOSED MATERIAL 

A chain of repressed ideas can be brought to common ex- 
pression in a manifestation when they agree, either wholly or 
in some peculiarity, or when a common speech relation exists 
among them. 

A lady of some thirty years afflicted with melancholia and 
victim of an unhappy marriage, has suffered since the begin- 
ning of her married life, sixteen years ago, from automatic 
contraction of the vagina (vaginismus). Sexual intercourse 
has therefore been almost entirely denied her, from which cir- 
cumstance both she and her husband suffer severely. The 
symptom dated from a number of unconscious motives : When 
three and a half years old, she was carried by a man on his 
back with his hand placed in an improper position.* A few 
years later, a brother allowed himself improper manipulations 
which hurt severely. As adult, she experienced a similar 
treatment from another relative who told her he wished a 
woman as tightly built as possible. Further, she feared her 
husband might suffer an accident from her (penis captivus). 
Further, she wished to make herself attractive to him, remain 
young as long as possible and force him to strongest aggres- 
sion. The contraction disappeared completely, the attitude 
toward life became fairly normal. The analysis was prema- 
turely interrupted by the patient's going on a journey and 
yet soon after, complete health appeared without further 
treatment. 

That even apparently totally different trains of thought 
can be superimposed on one another, is shown by the follow- 
ing dream of a woman, aged thirty-one years, who suffered 
from spinal syphilis: 

' ' I was drinking water from a beautiful fountain, my hands 

* The traima seems to have been provoked. The patient remembers 
that she previously said to the man that she would lie down and sleep 
because she hoped that he would do something to her. Compare 
Abraham, Das Erleiden sexueller Jugendtraumen als Form infantiler 
Sexualbetatigk. Zbl. f. Nervenheilkunde u. Psychiatrie 1907. Nov. 
2d. Number. 



252 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

serving as cups. The water was clear but shining fish and 
mussels moved in it. The fountain reservoir looked like a 
gondola. Suddenly I stood in it and swept a wall in a church- 
like, vaulted building, although it was not dirty. In this 
reservoir, I climbed higher and higher. In so doing, I was 
afraid of falling down and held on to the wall. My husband 
stood there. I asked myself why he did not help me. When 
I finally reached the top in great anxiety, it cleared up beauti- 
fully. The wall went still higher. I was on a platform, how- 
ever. The wall disappeared and I in great anxiety was in an 
evil-smelling tunnel. At one time, I had reached the top 
when Pastor P. stood by me and consolingly sought to allay 
my anxiety although it was evident that he had it too. He 
traveled with me in the depths whereupon I felt air. He 
blinked his eyes a little but also trembled as if he was afraid. 
Then the darkness was dissipated. A lattice extended to the 
knees and I thought : There I have absolutely no footing. "We 
got along well, however. Below lay a beautiful garden which 
I saw when halfway down, somewhat like the hill on which 
I live. Below stood my husband laughing." 

A real analysis was impossible since the woman was finish- 
ing a mercurial treatment for the spinal trouble. I guarded 
myself well from telling the patient the meaning of the dream 
which was told to me without my asking as something beauti- 
ful. I cautiously obtained a few associations. l\Iuch was 
known to me. 

The reservoir resembled my pulpit but also the fountain in 
front of my church. On Sunday before the dream, I had 
preached from the words of Jesus as given in John iv., 14: 
* ' Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall 
never thirst." This sermon made a strong impression on the 
dreamer, so she said. The hands held as cups express in the 
one-time Catholic, the attitude of praj'-er. 

The religious phantasy is spun out further. Standing in 
the pulpit and sweeping the wall like a true servant, the 
dreamer felt herself lifted heavenward which gives a good 
religious meaning. Further, the anxiety over falling corre- 



ANALYSIS OF A DREAM ^56 

spends to the well-known fear of many religious persons of 
falling from grace. Her husband, when anxiety over her fu- 
ture came upon her, could not quiet her by religious conver- 
sation. The platform reminded her of a lookout on an elevated 
place. The fear of new darkness appeared : A terrible tunnel 
took the dreamer down. Still the pastor consoled and con- 
ducted the anxious one back to the light. To the one with 
wavering faith, he afforded sure help. A Garden of Eden, 
the longed-for Paradise, received her and her husband. 

This much I could tell the woman. More would have robbed 
her of the harmless joy in her poem and disquieted her mind. 
The reader will probably have already guessed the gross erotic 
sense. It betrays itself already in the fishes and mussels of 
the fountain which plainly represent masculine and feminine 
symbols. 

The sweeping, of the church wall points definitely to mas- 
turbation since the church building is a typical representation 
of the female, usually maternal body. The church recalls 
that which the patient as a child was accustomed to visit (in- 
fantile masturbation). To *' reservoir, " the dreamer asso- 
ciated besides "gondola" and ''pulpit" also "bed." The 
husband did not help her out of the anxiety because she for- 
bids him intercourse or because he is impotent. At all events, 
the husband intimated to me that intimate relations with his 
wife did not exist. 

The dreamer wishes to free herself autoerotically, which does 
not, however, gratify her (anxiety). Suddenly she sticks in 
the foul-smelling tunnel. From the analysis of women who 
are ungratified by their husbands, who are overcome in tunnels 
with severe anxiety, as well as from many dreams, we know 
that the tunnel is the symbol of the vagina. Our dreamer 
formerly suffered from syphilis, from which disease probably, 
tabes dorsalis has steadily developed. The memory of this 
critical state of affairs disturbs the unfortunate woman. Then 
she daringly allows the pastor to enter, who nevertheless, is 
only a cover-figure for another man : It is the seducer who 
impregnated and infected her at the same time; as immune, 



254; THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

therefore, from her disease, he has nothing to fear. By chance, 
he had the same forename as the pastor. Her own sexual ex- 
citement is accordingly wished upon this man. Still, a scruple 
is aroused: "I have no support." But at the same time, a 
lattice reaching to the knees is noticed. In reality, the pa- 
tient is without sensation as far as the knees because of destruc- 
tion of the spinal cord. Her trouble serves the former prosti- 
tute as protective measure against the fear of infection for 
now there is nothing more to corrupt. In the dream, she car- 
ries out the adultery but suffers no injury therefrom. 

Thus, the superimposition has not succeeded badly even 
though certain parts of the dream cannot be assigned equally 
well to the religious and erotic connections. 

The condensation succeeded by the aid of a symbolism which 
gave various meanings to the same idea. The "being lifted," 
"mounting," "flying," could be considered in the religious 
as well as in the erotic sense, likewise the "reservoir" (gon- 
dola, bed), the tunnel, the falling, the lattice, the garden. 

Often the similarity of the name suffices ("word-bridges," 
here for example, "being lifted") or another relation to a 
common third factor, to condense two quite distinct ideas.* 

The condensation belongs to the most efficient means of the 
unconscious for guarding its secret and still affording its in- 
clinations a certain, even though limited, realization. 

7. The Disjection 

1 designate as disjection that activity contrasted to condensa- 
tion, whereby a real quantity is represented in the manifesta- 
tion by a number of separate ideas. 

Freud has already pointed out that often in a dream, be- 
sides the self, other persons are present who turn out in the 
analysis to be .representations of the person himself, t Freud 
shows in beautiful examples that wit also utilizes this mechan- 
ism. J After a too modern performance of "Antigone," the 

* Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 235. 
f Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 254. 
i Freud, Witz, p. 19 flf. 



MENTAL TENDENCIES 255 

Berliner Witz criticized: "Antik! nee!" To the jesting 
question: ''What is the best in the examination (examen)," 
the disjection answers "Ex amen!" 

This dissection of a person is often found in art. In differ- 
ent pictures by Lukas Cranach, the Christ, for example, is 
expressed simultaneously in several figures, as crucified one, 
as risen one, serpent, lamb. In each figure, the hero is char- 
acterized according to one particular aspect. 

Poetry also makes extensive use of disjection. It creates 
a new person from the ribs of a man. Thus Goethe appears 
simultaneously in Tasso and Antonio, in Faust and Mephis- 
topheles. 

Not less does religion like splittings: for example, Mary is 
divided by Catholic people into countless distinct personalities, 
a Mary of Einsiedeln, Mary of the Snow (Rigi), Mary of the 
Statue (Canton of St, Gallen), etc. 

Even phantasies are broken up into various separate ideas 
when they are elaborated as result of changed relations in the 
repression. One of my analytic patients, for example, who 
revoked and remodeled the sadistic phantasies which had been 
created under the reign of hatred, produced the following re- 
sult: Formerly, he pictured the analyst as an idiotic auc- 
tioneer standing on a high tower, opening his mouth without 
making a sound, degrading himself for a foolish thing and had 
him die; now from this picture, two day-dreams developed: 
The pastor appeared as an intellectual, forceful speaker and 
as an aeronaut who sacrifices himself for science.* 

C. THE PRINCIPAL TENDENCIES 

Even before the repression, one observes two principal ten- 
dencies in which the mental life exerts itself: a centrifugal 
and a centipetal. Diametrically opposite to the endeavor 
which is directed toward reality and which devotes its full 
interest and love to this reality, stands the endeavor to separ- 
ate itself entirely from reality and to make its own gratifica- 

* Pflster, Analyt. Unters, ii. d. Psycholog. d. Hasses u, d. Versohnung, 
Leipzig and Vienna, 1910, p. 38. 



256 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

tion and enhancement the goal of all action and thought. 
Ethics long ago spoke of egoists and altruists, the philosophy 
of a-priorists and empiricists, and psychology recognized the 
difference between the shut-in natures, those turned inward, 
and the communicative natures which gladly unfold to the 
outer world and embrace it in love. Neither the centrifugal 
nor the centripetal tendency ever appears entirely by itself. 
The seemingly centripetal perception often depends on selfish, 
egocentric wishes which have selected from the totality of pos- 
sible perceptions just those which enriched the given charac- 
teristics with other, not given ones and interpreted the incom- 
plete picture in a particular manner, so that in the supposed 
perceptive picture, many unseen features were projected into 
it, etc. Conversely, the world-renouncing mystic constantly 
betrays his consideration for his environment ; in its favor, he 
spins his delusion of grandeur and ideas of persecution, as 
he also gets his material for his ideas. 

Thus every person takes part in both movements and that 
indeed in every movement of his action and experience. Still 
there exist great differences in the distribution of the tenden- 
cies. Many persons throw their emotions and interests into 
the outer world very easily. In this, it often happens that only 
the surface of the mental life follows this path, the depths re- 
maining unmoved. Such persons frequently display strong 
love-emotions, but the glow of the conscious emotions is no 
proof of their genuineness, for on the morrow, they may per- 
haps have flown. This peculiarity marks the hysterical indivi- 
dual in particular. Conversely, one meets people who appar- 
ently have neither interest nor love for their surroundings and 
yet are capable of great kindness, indeed of considerable sacri- 
fice for it. Likewise, a person who was happy in his childhood, 
may, as a result of certain inhibitions, be forced violently back 
into his inmost self. Hence one must proceed with great cau- 
tion in assigning individuals to this or that categorj^ and in 
many, probably in most cases, guard against such classification; 
Extreme cases occur and may then, as we shall see, be forced 
into illness when one endeavor or some other obstacle presents 



MENTAL TENDENCIES 257 

itself against the opposite tendency. But among patients also, 
both tendencies often, probably usually, appear simultaneously 
so that the introverted individuals for example, that is, people 
with predominant centripetal tendency, can have many symp- 
toms which usually prevail in hysterical individuals, thus, those 
people with whom the emotions press violently outward, and, 
conversely, hysterical individuals show in many symptoms, for 
example, twilight states, that renunciation of reality which 
constitutes the most prominent characteristic of introverted 
individuals. 



CHAPTER XI 
THE CONTENT OF THE MANIFESTATIONS 

1. Reminiscences 

"When we find a memory in a dream, hysterical phenomenon 
or other phenomenon, which we have to consider as reaction 
of an unconscious motive, this means : Something in the pres- 
ent situation agrees with something in the past or should agree 
with it. The same rule holds good when upon closer considera- 
tion, a manifestation turns out to be a reminiscence. 

Heine's "Lorelei" affords a fine example. First, a picture 
producing a peculiar effect by its tone : 

"I know not what it can mean that I am so sad." The 
continuation appears exactly as if the poet had instituted a 
little autoanalysis and deciphered his sadness. 

"A legend from the olden times which will not leave my 
mind." The legend which follows plainly accords with the 
sadness because it conceals its relation to the poet's affairs. 
Otherwise it would leave him unmoved. It is characteristic 
that the sadness precedes and is felt at first as mysterious. , 
The ballad represents, as is plainly evident from many analo- 
gies, the poet's death-wish created by unhappy love, as fulfilled, 
in the same manner as Goethe executes on his hero in the suft'er- 
ing young Werther, his suicidal impulse occasioned by the 
same motive. 

Every dream when it contains no memories as such, leads 
immediately upon exploration to reminiscences. Frequently, 
the interpretation is an assured fact when the dream fragment 
has been inserted into its original connection as experienced. 
A young girl dreamed, for instance, in winter that she was sit- 
ting in a public garden. The analj^sis gained the following 
associations: "Last summer, I sat in such a garden with my 

258 



REMINISCENCES 259 

parents and a friend. As a child of one year, I was often 
taken by our beloved servant maid into a public garden ; there 
she played constantly. Afterwards, the vain young thing put 
on Mamma's best clothes and looked at herself in the mirror. 
Once when the parents were away traveling, she slept in 
Mamma's bed." Later, they often playfully reproached the 
child for being so frequently in the public garden while still 
so small. The memory of that maid's putting herself in 
the mother's place is closely joined to the previous visit to the 
garden. The clinical symptoms of the dreamer plainly dis- 
close that she unconsciously identifies herself with the maid 
and likewise puts herself in the mother's place. This is shown 
for example in the following hallucination : At night, she sees 
her mother in night dress go to the chest to open it with the key. 
She calls to her to prevent her from doing what she intended. 
To her astonishment, the mother sleeping in the bed beside her 
daughter, asks what is the matter and why she calls. Some- 
what later, the girl sees the mother go from wardrobe to 
window and sit on the windowsill, ''perhaps to throw herself 
out of the window." 

To ' ' chest, ' ' she associated : ' * She wishes to get a handker- 
chief or bandage. One binds up wounds in cases of emergency 
with handkerchiefs. Once when I cut my finger, I fainted. 
The same happened when I was a very small child at the den- 
tist 's. On the vacation where I was, during the hallucination, 
the menstrual flow was always absent." 

The girl suffered from anxiety over blood and from excessive 
menstruation which always assumed the plain character of a 
birth pantomime. 

Chest and key are to be understood as female and male 
symbols. The dreamer envies her mother her position in wed- 
lock since she herself has an incestuous fixation upon the 
father. The mother should make away with herself in order 
to make room for the daughter. 

We often stumble on reminiscences when we endeavor to get 
to the bottom of neurotic phenomena. I will add a few ex- 
amples : In the first hours of the analysis, it struck me that 



260 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

the woman patient, of about thirty years, suddenly twitched 
slightly. Upon being questioned, she said that she suffered 
from sudden pain in the back and had some weeks before, put 
herself under medical treatment for this trouble. The physi- 
cian thought the kidneys were out of order although the urine 
showed no anomalies. The pain often ran to the right hip. 
[This pain.] ""When sixteen years old, I was grasped about 
the waist by a young man, right at the point that is painful 
now. He asked for a kiss. This I refused, of which fact, I 
was later very proud. When I was already secretly engaged 
to my husband, his friend and rival likewise demanded a kiss, 
at the same time seizing me there. ' ' The lady had previously 
told of her partiality for a physician who allowed her to love 
him (positive transference). Now she wishes that I should 
pay her court even if only that she may show her blameless 
mind. We shall see later that the analyst or any other educa- 
tor cannot avoid such bestowal of emotion. Our case teaches 
us that the reproduction of an earlier experience can represent 
the wish for its repetition. This connection is always to be 
found. 

At the beginning of the analytic investigation, the remin- 
iscences were designated as a kind of foreign body which lies 
under the threshold of consciousness and asserts itself from 
time to time. To-day, we know that there is no such pure 
reproduction of an existing, disturbing content but that re- 
vivification corresponds to certain needs and fulfills a tele- 
ological mission. Before we present the proof for this asser- 
tion, we will collect a number of new facts. 

2. Identification and Projection 

Even in normal life we put ourselves countless times in 
other people's places, often without realizing it, or even in 
places of lifeless objects. The esthetic effects, the reactions 
of the moral consciousness depend in great part upon such sub- 
stitutions or identifications. 

I will first select an example from the field of poetry : * * The 
Falling Leaf," by K. F. Meyer; 



IDENTIFICATION AND PROJECTION 261 

"To-day, an axe sounded the wliole morning long 
And continued till evening. The master is building 
Only a shack, still I would like to see 
Is it growing, is it beginning!" 

The fatally sick knight who speaks these words is glad of the 
beginning because he feels his own forces failing and puts 
himself in the place of that which is growing. 

"There was a carpenter who worked nobly 
And squarely hewed his timber. 
In good faith the man endeavored 
Until the water from his brow did run. 
At evening the master carpenter came, 
A good-natured old man with long curly beard. 
He touched the workman who never wished to rest 
Upon the shoulder, saying: "Good man, rest now!" 
Now the place became empty; I, however, slipped in 
And seated myself on the beam. 
Contemplating the hewn fir-stick 
I pondered over my own day's work." 

Here the comparison of his own life with the timber is plain : 
Both have been carved out with infinite exertion and lie 
there incomplete; from both, the active workman has been 
called away against his will. The timber consoles in so far 
that it attains its purpose the following day. To this revery, 
the hope is easily joined that the life-work may also be com- 
pleted. 

"I was staring down, lost in thought. 
When a falling leaf struck my shoulder. 
I shuddered when I spied the leaf 
As if the master's hand had touched me, 
And I thought: Enough! The sun is low. 
Go in, thou workman, to the rest of thy Lord!" 

The cottage is identified with the carpenter, the fallen leaf 
on his shoulder with the hand of the master and so the cessa- 
tion of work is interpreted as a kind of hopeful invitation to 
a time of rest. 

Thus all characteristics of a process which primarily has 



262 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

no direct relation to the knight, gain by sympathy, identifica- 
tion or whatever we may name the psychological process, an 
intimate relation. The building artisan, the tireless workman 
who hates to leave his work unfinished, the shack, the touched 
shoulder, the hewn fir-stick, they are all representations of the 
cottage itself and more exactly the embodiment of inhibited 
endeavors of high valence, the so-called libido-symbols. In- 
deed the old man who calls to rest from work and the warning 
leaf expressing a wish which slumbers beside the preceding 
ones in the depths of the soul, are also libido-symbols in which 
the hero finds himself again. 

We are dealing here, not only with an * ' Einf iihlung, " * to 
use Volkelt 's expression, but with a more or less clear thought 
process in which one compares himself with some object on 
a basis of certain similarities and puts himself in its place to 
appropriate to himself the advantages which accrue from the 
comparison. The similarity which is present is utilized to 
gain pleasant prospects for the undecided things in the per- 
son's life, which are solved in favorable manner in the object 
of comparison. In this substitution or self -installation in the 
place of an object, thinking, feeling and willing have a share. 

In the ethical field, sympathy is the same kind of an activity. 
Unfortunately, in our representation, we cannot support our- 
selves by a recognized psychological theory but must ourselves 
seek out our conception. Schopenhauer, as we know, believes 
that sympathy is founded on the knowledge that the person 
cherishing sympathy is identified with the one pitied, on the 
"Tat twam asi" (This, you are). Adam Smith holds as a pre- 
supposition of sympathy that we put ourselves in the place of 
the other: "We think ourselves over into his body, we become 
in some measure he himself and accordingly build for our- 
selves a concept of his emotions, indeed we feel something 
similar to his emotions although in much weaker intensity." 

This theory arouses an opponent in Storring who says: 
"Such a confusion of our standpoint with that of the sufferer 
does not occur in sympathy: In the case of sympathy with 

* No exact English, equivalent, something like sympathetic insight. 



UNCONSCIOUS IDENTIFICATION 263 

a man, we do not at all imagine what we would feel if we were 
in his place. The situation is rather: When we see anyone 
suffer, the perception of the physical phenomena which ac- 
company suffering or of the causes of the same brings about 
the reproduction of emotional conditions which have arisen 
with us ourselves from similar causes or which were present 
under similar physical concomitant phenomena. This repro- 
duction of emotional states on a basis of perceptions in a per- 
son does not presuppose, as may be seen, the idea that we 
endure the pains of the sufferer but only the perception of 
the accompanying phenomena of the pain or of the causes by 
which the pain was produced. The emotions reproduced in 
us are then thought into the sufferer; we do not, however, 
' ' think ourselves over into his body. ' ' * 

This theory leaves the principal thing unexplained: If I 
mentally transfer to another the emotions produced in me 
from symptoms perceived in the other, why does there so often 
remain with me such severe grief? Why does sympathy as- 
sume such highly varied degrees of intensity according as it 
concerns a savage of the stone age or a beloved relative? 

In sympathy, I treat the sorrows and joys, the intellectual, 
esthetic and ethical preferences of another as things highly 
important to me. It must be admitted with Storring that a 
clearly conscious "putting one's self in place of another" is 
not necessarily present in sympathy, although sympathy often 
receives a reinforcement when one construes this idea. But 
it may be asserted just as surely that dimly consciously or un- 
consciously, the substitution pointed out by Smith prevails in 
general. 

In substantiation of this opinion, I proceed from analytic 
results. 

A young merchant developed passionate fondness for Na- 
poleon. He not only studied with boundless industry a mass 
of works on the great emperor but he allowed his whole out- 
look on the world to be determined by the Corsican. In spite 
of all ridicule by comrades, he was all the time turning the 

* G. Storring, Moralpliilos. Streitfragen I, p. 17. 



264 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

conversation to his hero and seemed absolutely inaccessible 
to other matters. The young man is an hysterical individual. 
For some years, he has suffered from difficulties in swallowing. 
At the beginning of the analysis he could not in general swal- 
low solid food. The exploration showed in a few minutes that 
the patient cannot and will not swallow all kinds of demands 
of his father, whereupon the disturbance in his throat disap- 
peared for good.* On the other hand, the admiration for 
Napoleon rather increased. Its chief motives were as follows : 

(1) The emperor is a substitute for the detested father. 

(2) Napoleon was small of stature ; his admirer is the same. 

(3) The great conqueror triumphed over his enemies; our 
patient is filled with hatred for all comrades and mankind in 
general, his ambition knows no bounds. 

(4) The profile of the young fanatic bears an unmistakable 
resemblance to that of his model. These motives worked for 
the most part unconsciously. That a comparison existed, is 
not to be denied. 

Hate and love often depend on unconscious transpositions in 
the sense of projection of the ego upon the people in question. 
An example of this kind of origin for a passionate love for a 
nurse, I have already given (207). That hatred can arise 
similarly, I shall show later. 

Ferenczi formulates the statement: "The neurotic indivi- 
dual is constantly searching for objects with which to identify 
himself, upon which he may transfer his emotions. " t I do 
not think that this statement applies to all psychoneurotics. 
For the hysterical type, it is certainly correct. Another mode 
of identification exists in dementia praecox. IMaeder mentions 
the exteriorization by which the patient thinks he can per- 
ceive his separate organs in the reality. For example, the 

* This recovery also occurred too quickly, since it made further 
analysis seem superfluous to the neurotic individual. The youth suf- 
fered from his attachment to his father afterwards as before, so that 
his attitude toward life was entirely false. Goethe noted in his diary 
on May 27, 1811: "Psychic cure of hiccup in a youth." Cited by 
Stekel, Nerv. Angstzustande, p. 7. 

f S. Ferenczi, Introjektion u. tJbertragung. Jahrb. I, p. 429. 



UNCONSCIOUS IDENTIFICATIONS 265 

manipulations of the gas and water pipes is for one of Maeder's 
analytic patients an irritation of his nerves and vessels.* But 
this takes us to projection. 

One can also be so closely united with a work, unconsciously, 
that we can almost speak of a substitution. 

Under the influence of unconscious mental impulses, the nor- 
mal individual also countless times identifies persons or other 
parts of his environment with one another. One individual 
is sympathetic to us at first glance without our being able to 
assign any reason for the fact. If we analyze, perhaps the 
likeness to a beloved person becomes conscious, of whom we 
did not think before. Thus we begin a transposition of per- 
sons. 

As a matter of fact, the analyst is easily identified, uncon- 
sciously or from unconscious motives, with other persons. 
Amusing externalities aid the substitution. We met one ex- 
ample in the case of the patient who saw in her teacher as well 
as in other persons, the eyes of her seducer, although those 
organs looked quite different in color, size and position (246). 
In such eases, the real reason lies deeper : The patient wishes 
a renewal of the earlier experiences. 

The young catatonic patient, who was pathologically 
ashamed of his nose (122) repeatedly said to me: **I see dis- 
tinctly in you the physician who operated on me for phimosis ; 
I know perfectly well that you are another man but for me 
you are that physician." 

How fateful may be the outcome of such identifications, I 
may show in a case cured by analysis. It concerned a boy of 
seventeen years whom I had cured of three nervous tics in 
four consultations, a year previously. At that time, only the 
relation to boys was discussed. For three years, the boy had 
blinked his eyes every few seconds, turned up his nose and 
pulled the corners of his mouth upward. Three physicians 
and Christian Science were unable to help him. From his 

* Maeder, Psyeholog. Unters. an Dementia prsecox-Kranken. Jahr- 
biich II, p. 241. Maeder, Zur Entst. d. Symbolik im Traum, in der 
Dementia prsecox, etc. Zbl. I, p. 383. 



266 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

dreams, it was revealed that he had fallen out with his com- 
rades since they refused him on account of alleged scandal. 
It made him especially angry that they kept sexual enlighten- 
ment from him. His twitching said: "I don't want to see 
you and despise your obscenity." Naturally, I did not con- 
sider the youth fully freed after the little analysis of symptoms 
but had no occasion to urge him to continue the pedagogic 
course. 

The course of the second treatment was much more tedious. 
The youth said that he could not concentrate himself and that 
he hated his parents. Melancholia was also mentioned. Some 
days before, the young introverted individual had retired from 
a course in dancing because the big, strapping fellow, in spite 
of eager desire, could not bring himself to overcome his bash- 
fulness and speak a word to a girl. For two or three years, he 
had been a victim of bashfulness. Also with a young and 
pretty lady boarder, with whom he was in love, he never spoke 
a word and pretended indifference toward her. If he passed a 
girl, tears came to his eyes and he felt ashamed. This painful 
inhibition in speech even extended to a comrade who had two 
sisters. "With the other boys, he had been on good terms since 
the earlier fragmentary analysis. 

One of his first dreams was : "I was with a crazy old man 
whom I led by the arm, in front of a cemetery, the gate of which 
formed an obstacle. Suddenly we were in the cemetery, how 
it happened I do not know; you came from a side alley and 
took the old man into custody; I left you alone." 

[The old man.] "A comic figure in the 'Fliegenden Blat- 
tern. ' A stout man who wished to dine with a count and then 
also sup with him. The father of our lady boarder was also 
stout, his oval face and his beard resembled those of the dream 
figure. He was our guest a month ago. On the other hand, 
the color of his face was sallow like my mother's. Further, 
the nervous movements and the constant talking did not belong 
to the boarder's father." [Nervous movements, much talk- 
ing.] ''That agrees exactly with my father." 

In explanation, I will borrow from the chapter which gives 



FIXATION UPON PARENTS 267 

us mformation concerning the meaning of manifestations 
(Chapter XIII) : The dream represents a secret (unconscious, 
latent) wish as fulfilled. The dreamer paints his father as 
a crazy, helpless old man in the cemetery where I am also 
kindly provided for. The same fate befalls the hated mother 
and the innocent guest. Why the latter? As father of the 
beloved girl, he is the father's double (father-in-law). 

It is not determined that the hard-hearted son really wishes 
his father dead. As we have noticed and found confirmed 
repeatedly the father is only an image (Imago) . The neurotic 
wishes to set free his libido which is joined to the father by 
making him the object of caricature. He seeks therefore, to 
bury a bit of his own bondage. 

Whence, however, has come the hatred for the father who 
is a good-natured, generous, mild-mannered man without any 
austerity ? I exerted myself to find the reason but could ascer- 
tain nothing except jealousy over the mother. The boy slept 
during his first eight years in the same rooms with his parents. 
Because of his sickliness, he was pampered by his mother who 
was decidedly hysterical. He was continually taken into bed 
with her. To the mother, he paid the compliment when quite 
small: "You are the prettiest woman in the whole world." 
And to this judgment, he still held, although the mother is dis- 
tinguished rather by lack of good looks. 

It soon became evident from the dreams that the bashful 
youth identified the girls who had impressed him, with his 
mother or saw the latter in the girls. Hence the girls bore 
traits of the mother picture, for example, the aprons of the 
mother. 

As chief determinant of the alienation, I found a sexual 
phantasy which was long kept silent. Finally the youth re- 
vealed his secret. For a long time previously, he had known 
that he suffered much from masturbation. I had endeavored 
to help him with the usual assurances and advice but unfor- 
tunately without result. Finally, the analysis attained the 
goal here too. It showed that an obsessional idea underneath 
the onanism which naturally brought to naught all good reso- 



268 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

lutions: In phantasy, the boy lay beside a girl (usually 
clothed) in bed and clung to her. This scene immediately 
called up the memory of the almost daily morning visits which 
the child had made to his mother. The sexuality of the youth 
was thus anchored fast to the infantile desires and its normal 
development had been interrupted. He was ashamed in the 
presence of girls because in his phantasies he misused them 
(really the boarder) and saw in them the sexually-desired 
mother. 

Also, improper wishes were directed toward his sister which 
wishes had derived their form from infantile bath scenes. Of 
the sexual life, the youth held the most disgusting ideas. The 
explanation exerted a saving influence on him. 

The treatment took five months and proceeded with great 
difficulty since the not particularly intelligent youth revealed 
only very unwillingly the identification of the father and 
analyst and at first produced very few associations. Now, he 
is on excellent terms with his parents and behaves gallantly 
toward young ladies. His capacity for work has become en- 
tirely normal. 

A typical example which illuminates many life histories, 
is the following: A widow of thirty-seven years, subnormal 
intelligence, begged me for consolation for severe anxiety con- 
ditions and religious depressions. She suffered from fear that 
God did not care about her, perhaps He did not exist at all. 
Accordingly, her religion was in profound need. The Sunday 
religious service she considered the finest hour of the week. 
Since she seemed too unintelligent for analysis, I endeavored 
to aid her with advice and friendly encouragement. The re- 
sult was unsuccessful. I therefore investigated her life history 
which was only slightly known to me. 

The widow had lost her husband five years before, a drunk- 
ard, about twenty-two years older than she, who did not trouble 
himself about her inter copulam. Since then, she has exer- 
cised an extreme grave cult and clung passionately to the man 
who had always treated her badly. She refused all court- 
ships and lived only in her sorrow. On account of pains in her 



MOTIVES FOR IDENTIFICATIONS 269 

pelvis, she had both ovaries extirpated but experienced — like 
so many hysterieals who have been operated on — no diminution 
in her suffering. 

The infantile experiences solved the riddle. The patient 
had a drunken father who bothered himself little about his 
family. He was somewhat taller than she with black hair and 
beard. The girl could not bear her mother and therefore 
transferred so much the more love to the father who left so 
much to be desired in other things. A sister, eleven years 
her elder, she loved, according to her own phrase, * ' abnormally 
fervently." To her, she confided everything and found com- 
plete understanding. Then the mother-substitute became tu- 
berculous and passed quickly away. 

When she was face to face with death, our hysterical patient 
became engaged in passionate devotion to her future husband 
who strikingly resembled in stature, hair, beard and other 
characteristics the father who had now been dead nine years 
and who had the same faults of character. Thus one sees: 
The love inhibited by the threatened departure of the mother- 
substitute, turns to the father-substitute. The girl was a 
female OEdipus like so many others. 

A part of her love was directed toward God. After the 
death of her husband, strong sexual needs asserted themselves. 
Hence anxiety. Her religion could not afford her sufficient 
father-love and the sexual demands stilled by the father-sub- 
stitute craved for more than piety. Thus the bounds of capa- 
city for sublimation were plainly transcended. 

One often meets similar identifications. A student of phi- 
losophy, aged twenty-three, fell in love with a teacher aged 
forty. He perceived the unsuitableness of this love but could 
not free himself from it. The conversation took the following 
course: [Is your mother still living?] **Yes." [Then you 
are probably not on good terms with her.] "Yes. How did 
you know that?" [Because you seek her love in a mother- 
substitute.] The youth saw his identification at once. 

One might ask whether the expression, "identification," is 
altogether happy for the process described. If I unconsciously 



270 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

unite two persons in one figure, I do not wish to express their 
absolute identity but only their comparison in this or that 
regard. Perhaps the name substitution or interchange would 
be preferable. But these terms also have their defects, since 
often a substitute for the object indicated in the manifestation 
in question, is not present in the new figure because that first 
object retains its importance. Therefore, I keep the name 
"identification" in spite of its deficiencies but use the other 
expressions as well. 

The motives of the substitution may be of different kinds. 
Frequently, the wish finds expression: "0 were I such an 
one." I knew a student who successively imitated in striking 
manner the teachers he admired. From one, he borrowed the 
habit of constantly carrying a key in his hand on the street, 
from another, old-fashioned collars, the procuring of which 
must have given him not a little trouble, the third, he copied 
so in accent, use of eyes and manner of speech that the two 
men were mistaken for each other. One hysterical girl assumed 
with all its peculiarities the migraine of her mother, in whose 
place, she would have liked to be. 

In other cases, the substitution of one's own person is ex- 
plained by sympathy, in which the literal and the figurative 
significance of the expression w^ork together beautifully. Sym- 
pathy as inclination leads to sympathy = to suffer with the 
beloved. Here, a powerful "Einfiihlung" * occurs. 

In this manner, the mystic, Margaretha Ebner t (1291- 
1351) identified herself with Jesus very plainly in a number 
of hysterical symptoms, as appears from her phantasies. She 
suffered from inability to stand and to walk, from pains in 
head and teeth, from hoarseness, stitch in the heart and in the 
hands, from the sensation of having all her limbs broken, in- 
tolerance against being touched ("Noli me tangere"), from 
the feeling of suspense, from death-marks on the hands, from 
the utterance of cries and other imitations. 

A young student whose brother had died from subcostal 

* See foot-note on page 262. 

fPfister, Hysterie u. Mystik bei INIarg Ebner. Zbl. I, pp. 468-485. 



HYSTERICAL IMITATIONS 271 

abscess, was stricken on the funeral day with an obstinate pain 
in the same region. An analysis was not made. 

I have already described a swelling of the tongue which a 
son imitated from his mother, the mother from a friend of her 
youth (177). Probably substitution existed there also. 

An hysterical boy of sixteen with introversion phenomena, 
was seized during the analysis with a loud snapping or crack- 
ing in the joint of the lower jaw. The trouble which was 
plainly audible even at some distance when he opened his 
mouth, became so unpleasant that mastication was almost im- 
possible. It occurred to the boy that his pretty aunt, aged 
thirty-five, had been subject to exactly the same trouble and 
likewise only on one side. This aunt, he loved very much and 
regretted that his father had not married her. That did not 
exclude his having considerable strife with her. After I had 
made a visit to his family, the cracking suddenly stopped until 
he came to my house, pretendedly from fear that I would dis- 
close something of his inclination to his mother and aunt. 
As closer determination, I found: The pretty aunt liked to 
eat nuts ; the nephew admired a comrade who could crack nuts 
in his teeth. (The father often hid the nut-cracker.) The 
grandfather forbade this practice since it might lead to blind- 
ness. The cracking in the joint realized among other things 
the wish to crack nuts for his aunt in order to gain her favor. 
The "patient had, however, other nuts to crack : He had no 
pleasant relations to school and comrades, parents and brothers 
and sisters. He did not know what would become of him.^ 
The aunt frequently used the expression: "I must always 
crack nuts for others," which meant: "to submit, suffer, re- 
move difficulties for others." The nephew said the same of 
himself. Immediately before the outbreak of the disturbance, 
the aunt had related that when young she had to live in a 
crowded attic and suffer injustice from her sister. Both things 
applied to the nephew also, particularly the strife with the 
sister. Finally, the cracking recalled the memory of a game 
that he often played with his sister : The two children wound 
a long thread about a spool which they rubbed and twirled 



272 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

while they held the plaything in front of the ear on the joint 
of the jaw. Then one heard a cracking "as of cannons." 
Now, the youth consoled himself: The war (Krieg) with the 
sister is, in spite of its noise only like the cracking (Kraeh) 
in the jaw caused by the noise of the plaything. Following 
these conclusions reached in four consultations, the symptom 
remained away for good. 

In this case, I cannot possibly assume that the nephew 
found something worthy of imitation in the situation of his 
aunt. 

Freud describes a third type of hysterical identification: 
"One patient has her attack to-day; directly it is known to 
the others that a letter from home, reviving the love trouble 
and the like, is the cause of it. Their sympathy is aroused, 
it is carried out in the following conclusion which does not 
enter consciousness: If one can have such attacks from such 
causes, so I too can have such attacks for I have these occa- 
sions. " * I confess that I have never ferreted out this un- 
conscious reflection and do not consider an uninterested con- 
clusion from analogy as sufficient motive for symptom forma- 
tion. According to Freud's opinion, there must certainly be 
instinctive impulses present as we demonstrate them in the 
covetous and sympathetic identification. 

Of the projections, one case is especially important: The 
transpositions of wishfulfillments which one cherishes, upon 
other people. It is present most frequently in paranoia and 
its chief forms, the delusions of grandeur and persecution. 
A patient feels herself persecuted because all the gentlemen in 
the trolley car speak only of her bad conduct. She wishes 
so to live but does not dare. The gentlemen express what she 
herself must deny. The normal individual also often sees 
others as he wishes them. He thinks to read in their minds 
and yet only projects himself into them. 

* Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 109. 



SYMBOLISM 273 



3. Symbolism 



Prom the beginning, Freud insisted upon the assertion that 
the repressed material now and then procures symbolical ex- 
pression. A beautiful example is that of the lady who had 
suffered for fifteen years from facial neuralgia. All external 
means of treatment failed: electric cauterization, alkaline 
waters, elimination methods, teeth extraction. Finally, the 
trauma was revealed in an illness of her husband's, in the 
narration of which, the sufferer seized himself by the cheek, 
cried out with pain and said: ''That was to me like a blow 
in the face." Over this repression, which naturally formed 
neither the first link in the pathological chain nor the real 
cause of the disease, but only the exciting and form-giving oc- 
casion, other repressions had been superimposed. The same 
hysterical patient suffered from pains in the feet which ren- 
dered walking impossible for her. These pains had appeared 
at the moment when the house-physician offered her his arm 
and she was overcome by the fear whether she could ' ' appear 
correctly ' ' in strange society.* ( One notices the word-bridges : 
"blow in the face" and "appear.") 

Such processes, Freud terms "symbolizations by means of 
verbal expression." We have found them substantiated in 
a very considerable number of analytic results. L mention 
the dumbness, dimness of vision, astasia, tactile hallucination 
on the breast, as manifestation of the thoughts: "I can no 
longer speak, everything is dark before me, I hang only by a 
thread" (31). I mention further the hysterical crown of 
thorns (36), the obsession for washing (68), the aversion 
for cleansing work (78), the finger movements under the nose 
(78), the anxiety for the legs of doves and children besides 
shame on account of the nose (122), the anesthetic toe (176), 
the obsessional movement upon extending the hand (177), 
the fatigue (180), St. Vitus' dance movements (185), sleepi- 
ness (197), anxiety for the offending bedside table (211), 
tearing of skin on the thumb, ravenous hunger for carrots, 

* Freud, Studien iiber Hysteric, p. 157 f. 



274 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

violin playing (213f), overlooking the waning moon (220) 
dream of a person with spinal syphilis (251). 

I ask that provisionally the expression "symbol" be allowed 
to apply to all events in which a symbol represents the pictorial 
representation of an idea related by content but still aiming 
at something else, to put it briefly : under symbol, I understand 
provisionally the veiled, masked expression of a thought in a 
phantastic form which contains an analogy. Concerning the 
speech usage, I will speak later. 

(a) psychology of the symbol in customary speech usage 

The Freudian theory of symbols has stirred up much dust. 
Many persons were very indignant that the psychoanalyst 
should make the unconscious use a varying speech of double 
meaning where it would be much nicer and prettier if it used 
a scientific, logically correct manner of expression. But does 
the symbolizing activity not belong to the most universal and 
most important functions of the mental life? 

I shall introduce some evidence. Speech constantly makes 
use of the metaphor as is well known. Its words have devel- 
oped from visual ideas, even the abstract expressions which 
are now construed figuratively. In the statement just made 
for example, the words "ideas" (Vorstellungen), "developed" 
(hervorgegangen), "abstract" (abstrakt), "expressions" 
(Ausdriicke), "figuratively" (bildlich), "construed" (ge- 
fasst) embrace sensual processes and objects but denote facts 
of the inner, mental world as well. The terms Pneuma 
(Greek), Ranch (Hebrew), spiritus, signify really breath 
(Hauch), then, also soul (mind), the actual prepositions all 
go back originally to relations of space.* According to Max 
Miiller, in a certain stage of development of speech, all thoughts 
which went beyond the narrow horizon of every-day life were 
expressed in metaphors.! Indeed, the highest terms of phi- 

* Hoffding, Psyeh. p. 3. According to Wundt, Logik, 2d ed. I, 150 ff., 
this applies only to the majority of prepositions (Messmer). 
t P. 209. 



SYMBOLISM IN RELIGION 275 

losophy, as ''substance," ''cause" and the like, are in a certain 
sense, symbols. 

Poetry also rests in part on symbolism. One needs only 
to mention some titles like "The Wild Duck," "The Sunken 
Bell, ' ' to illustrate this. Especially in folk legends is there a 
symbolism of which Riklin has given us valuable proof.* 

Painting symbolizes industriously. One thinks of Segan- 
tini's "Two Mothers," Steinhausen 's "Representation of 
Sorrow, ' ' that picture in which beside the discouraged peasant 
sitting before his broken plow, there is a withered little tree, 
while over his believing wife, a blooming tree is seen. 

The symbol is particularly frequent in religion. Schleier- 
maeher even considers religion the product of symbolizing ac- 
tivity.! P. A. Lange attributes high value to religion so far 
as its truths are considered only as symbols.^ Recent religious 
philosophers esteemed the symbol formation scarcely less im- 
portant even though they also thought at times that they could 
strip off the figurative character without endangering the re- 
ligious nucleus. Rauwenhoff says : "Nothing is clearer than 
that the circle of ideas which the religious man has formed 
regarding that transcendental force which he has made an ob- 
ject of veneration, has constantly been the production of his 
poetic phantasy." || Lipsius asserts : Every religious emotion 
is accompanied by an act of formative phantasy ; the intuitive 
picture created thereby is "unconscious symbol" of a trans- 
cendental one.^j Siebeck distinguishes a "more unconscious" 
and a conscious mode of symbolization.§ Sabatier names as 

* F. Riklin, Wunscherfiillung u. Symbolik im Marchen, Leipzig and 
Vienna, 1908. 

t G. Runze, KatechismHS der Religionsphilosophie 273, 278. In 
dogmatic theology, Sehleiermacher denied "sensual selfconseiousness." 
Der christl. Glaube, Berlin, 1884, I, p. 30. 

t F. A. Lange, Gesch. d. Materialismus, Iserlohn, 1877, II, p. 494 ff. 

II W. E. Rauwenhoff, Religionsphilosophie, Braunschweig, 1894, p. 
428. Likewise pp. 445, 449. 

If R. A. Lipsius, Lehrbuch d. ev.-prot. Dogmatik, Braunschweig, 1893, 
p. 53. 

§ H. Siebeck, Lehrbuch der Religionsphilosophie, Freiburg, 1893, p. 
282. 



276 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

one of the characteristics of religious knowledge that it is 
symbolical.* Eucken finds that religion only gains an effec- 
tive result on human life when its truths gain illuminating 
colors by phantasy and become impressive symbolic figures ; t 
the highest religion also requires the symbol $ even though 
one must hold the symbolical character of all human modes of 
expression for the present, in order to combat anthropomor- 
phism.ll Finally, Hoffding teaches: "Religious symbolism is 
distinguished (considered epistomologically) from the meta- 
physical only by the fact that its pictures are more concrete, 
of richer colors and fuller of expression " ; H "if the religious 
ideas have any kind of significance, it can only be that they 
serve for the symbolical expression of the mood, the aspiration 
and the wishes of men during the life struggle." § 

The images of God are symbols, the Apis bull of the Egyp- 
tians as well as Ishtar, the goddess of love of the Babylonians 
who was given the attributes of the panther and the morning- 
star. Most of the ritualistic acts are of symbolical nature, 
the taurobolium of Attis — where to-day, St. Peter's of Rome 
glistens, the pious individual allowed himself to be covered with 
blood from the sacrificial animal and greedily lapped it up 
with his mouth — not less than the noble celebration of the 
Christian Lord's Supper. The central idea of Christianity is 
expressed in the symbol of the cross as that of Buddhism is 
in the lotus flower which lies motionless on the pond allowing 
the rain to trickle off it, and at night withdrawing under the 
surface of the water. 

Less known are the individual symbolical acts with which the 
Old Testament for example is filled. Jeremiah, for instance, 
smashed a pitcher on the place where the children were sacri- 

* A. Sabatier, Religionsphilosophie auf gesch. Grundlage. German 
by Baur, Freiburg 1898, p. 307. 

t R. Eucken, Der Wabrheitsgehalt der Religion, Leipzig, 1901, p. 340. 

$P. 376. 

II P. 425. 

iJH. H(3fTding, Religionspbil., Leipzig, 1901, p. 70. 

§ P. 83. 



SYMBOLISM IN FOLKLORE 277 

ficed, in order to express the approaching destruction * ; he 
placed cords and yokes on his neck to signify the approaching 
slavery, t 

Folk superstitions are filled with symbolisms which are 
often no longer understood. In order to render teething easier 
for children, they laid on the gums, the prepared claws of a 
field mouse (arvicola amphibius L.). "As the mouse which 
digs in the earth breaks through the earth crust and works 
upward to the surface, so shall the sprouting tooth break 
through the gum. ' ' % The ordinary forms of daily life also 
have in great part figurative value, the uncovering of the head, 
the bow, the shake of the head, etc. There are also symbols 
artificially formed. Riklin recalls the fact that on time-tables, 
a post -horn refers to the postal communication present. |1 He 
also calls attention that to the concept of symbol, the charac- 
teristic of secret or mysterious is usually joined.^l Thus, for 
example, only the initiated could understand the runic writing. 

How and why were symbols formed ? Why is not the clear, 
definite scientific term preferred? One reason lies in the 
easily grasped distinctness of the picture, while on the other 
hand, the concept requires far greater effort of thought. In 
the symbol, one speaks of facts which are expressed on a basis 
of analogies by a pictorial idea easily comprehended at a glance. 
Even in science, we think in symbols as a rule. "When we have 
perceived that "sweet" and "white" are sensations which are 
present only in a subject equipped with a sense apparatus but 
never in the outer world itself, for example, in a piece of sugar, 
still we think in our deliberations of the sugar as white and 
sweet, qualities to which the sugar never attains. Wundt 

* Jeremiah, xix. 

f Jeremiah, xxvii. Nimierous examples in C. Kautzsch, Biblische 
Theologie des Alten und Neuen Testamentes. Tubingen 1911, pp.208 ff, 
212, 319. 

t 0. Stoll, Zur Erkenntnis des Zauberglaubens, der Folksmagie und 
Folksmedizin in der Schweiz, Zurich, 1909, p. 74. 

II F. Riklin, Wunscherfiillung u. Symbolik im Marchen, Leipzig and 
Vienna, 1908, p. 30. 

HP. 31. 



278 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

says quite correctly: ''After the whole sensory content of 
ideas, as result of the development of the perception of knowl- 
edge, is withdrawn into the subject, the ideas, from then on, 
can apply only as subjective symbols of objective significance, 
by the elaboration of which symbols, a knowledge of the outer 
world is to be gained only in conceptual way. " * " Not images, 
but symbols of reality, constitute science. ' ' t For the strictly 
scientific mode of thought, the symbol is not sufficient; this 
thought must go on to abstract formulations. But of these, 
too, Diirr rightly says: "Abstractions comprehend concrete 
objects by means of symbolizing conceptions. " J 

In the symbol, there usually exists, even when it is un- 
adorned, an esthetic stimulus, which precise terms lack. In 
this point, it is surpassed by the artistically interested allegory. 

Farther, the symbol possesses a richness which the concept 
lacks. The picture is not exhausted by one interpretation or 
indeed by several. One is never quite certain when a symbol 
is exhausted in all its possibilities (for example, the cross). 
In this sense, the symbol exceeds the concept 'in extent. 

The symbol includes not only reality as it is. It embraces 
besides all possible characteristic elements borrowed from real- 
ity, also such as correspond to our wishes. On a basis of 
analogies existing in reality, the symbol makes a comparison 
in which the traits which are undecided in reality, are decided 
according to the wish. Thus, the symbol is real and unreal 
at the same time and so suffices in certain relations for the 
reality-principle and the pleasure-principle of our mind, of 
which we shall have to speak. It expresses hope and creates 
a hopeful presentiment. Just here, lies an especial attraction 
which Mallarme describes in these words : "To name an ob- 
ject, is to suppress three fourths of the pleasure of the poem 
which consists of the pleasure of divining little by little." || 

]\Iany symbols would declare and conceal simultaneously, 

*Wundt, System d. Phil. p. 146. 

t E. Diirr, Erkenntnistheorie, Leipzig, 1910, p. 147. Compare p. 278. 

t Same, p. 51. 

II Cited by Hamann, Der Impressionismus in Kunst u. Leben, p. 108. 



SYMBOLISM IN ANTIQUITY 279 

thus, the secret rites, the names of certain secret societies, the 
pentagram, etc. 

It is an error to think that the symbolical always expresses 
an abstract idea. When a boy expresses something improper 
with his fingers, his comrade understands that an entirely con- 
crete wish is thereby communicated. 

Reality can also become a symbol. Hamann remarks : "It 
(the stimulating excitation) is truest and finest where the 
symbols do not belong to a richer, strange and beautiful world 
but where apparently every-day words and experiences are 
full of mysterious references and hidden meanings. ' ' * 

Besides the concepts of symbol given above, there is yet an- 
other still more extended meaning. In antiquity, ovixfioXov 
signified in addition to sensual representation of an idea, as 
much as characteristic, mark or token, such for example as 
those carried by the judges or participants in the mysteries, 
then further, an agreed-upon sign, for instance, the soldier's 
watchword. In church history, symbols mean also the formula 
or books by which a religious sect stated its beliefs in order 
to distinguish themselves from other groups, sects or churches. 
The characteristics of figurative distinctness, esthetic reality, 
secret wisdom are thereby lost. 

So far as the symbols in ordinary speech usage are con- 
cerned, their origin in brevity, distinctness, easy comprehen- 
sion, esthetic acceptableness, fulness of content, suggestive 
promise, discrete disguise is well founded and justified. The 
symbol appears therefore, not only as Silberer says, wherever 
the thought cannot manifest itself in consciousness in its 
''real" form from any reason whatever. f It is indeed correct 
that even a scientific thought may be anticipated symbolically 
— one thinks of Kekule's benzol ring (240) — but a symbol may 
occasionally be preferred in the presence of the full intellectual 
mastery of the material. 

* Hamann, p. 108. 

t H. Silberer, ijber Symbolbildung, Jabrb. Ill, p. 664. 



280 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

(b) symbol formation as manifestation 

(1) Psychological Remarks 

The neurotic and dream symbols agree in most character- 
istics with those of ordinary mental life. They also express 
one idea by another, whereby this symbolic idea often ex- 
presses only a characteristic, a related object or an analogous 
process. It makes use of allusion. In the plain simplicity 
(which represents a condensation), the expressiveness, the 
excitation to foreboding expectations, the conscious and un- 
conscious symbols are a unit. 

The fundamental difference between the two kinds of sym- 
bols lies in the fact that the conscious symbol serves the pur- 
pose of communication to other persons, thus, is a social func- 
tion, while the automatic symbol is of autistic nature (see be- 
low) . Paul says in one place : ' ' He that speaketh in an un- 
known tongue edifieth himself" (not for other men) I Cor. 
xiv, 4. This holds true of all manifestations.* The manifes- 
tation must be incomprehensible for its producer. It is as we 
saw, even an attempt to overcome the resistance by distortion. 
The pent-up instinct, inhibited from open activity, utilizes 
metaphorical automatism to gratify itself at least to as high a 
degree as possible. 

A distinct difference may not be disputed here. But should 
the name "symbol" be withheld from the manifestation on 
this account ? No. Not only do the psychological and logical 
characteristics of both symbolisms agree, aside from the social 
teleology, but also the history of language, which considers 
the symbol simply as sign, completely justifies the psychoanaly- 
tic speech usage. For the rest, no one is forbidden to give a 
new sense to a scientific term where no confusion threatens. 
All terms undergo a change in meaning. 

How closely related both kinds of symbolisms are, is seen 

* Tliere are also manifestations with social aims, for example, faint- 
ing as a demand for tenderness. But there too, the content of the 
symptom is still asocial (flight from reality). 



SYMBOLISM IN "MACBETH" 281 

particularly in those formations which can appear just as well 
automatically as on a basis of conscious deliberation. For 
example, we heard on page 68 of a patient who had to wash 
himself continually in obsessional manner. As cause for this 
obsession, we found the unconscious wish to free himself from 
the reproach of self-pollution. I found the same motive in 
some other youths. A woman patient in the middle thirties, 
who had to perform her astoundingly complicated washing cere- 
mony under severest mental anguish, three to six hours every 
day and could never wear the same linen two days, so fastened 
both arms every night with safety-pins that they could not 
touch her body and in addition, the nightdress had to be pinned 
tightly together below. The formative determination of this 
obsessional neurosis is plain enough. 

The discovery of this connection was made by Freud by 
means of analysis. Then, however, he found that a great 
poet had already discovered the state of affairs by intuition * — 
as in general, analysis has found scarcely one important fact 
which profound students of humanity had not already per- 
ceived more or less clearly. Shakespeare desciibes in his 
"Macbeth" (V-1) the Lady walking in her sleep after the 
murder of the king: 

Doctor: What is it she does now? Look how she rubs her hands. 
Waiting-ivoman: It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus 

washing her hands; I have known her continue in this a quarter of 

an hour. 

Lady Macbeth: Yet here's a spot . . . Out, damned spot! Out, I 
say! . . . Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so 
much blood in him? . . . What, will these hands ne'er be clean? 
Doctor: Foul whisperings are abroad: unnatural deeds 
Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds 
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets: 
More needs she the divine than the physician." f 

The connection, as Shakespeare represents it here, can be 
shown in individuals who are readily analyzable, often with 

* Freud, Obsessions et phobies. Kl, Schriften I, p. 90. 
t Theory of abreaction ! 



282 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC ^METHOD 

the greatest ease and clearness. Error seems to me absolutely 
excluded. It should be emphasized that the patient himself 
does not once suspect the cause of his obsession. 

Is this symbolism so uncommon? Have we not already 
found it a hundred times? We find washing among many 
peoples as a symbolical act which is meant to express the wish 
for purification of the soul from guilt. The Old Testament 
affords a multitude of examples : for instance, Isaiah i, 15, 16 : 
"Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean." 
Jeremiah ii, 22: "For though thou wash thee with nitre, 
and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before 
me, saith the Lord God."* At the time of Jesus, the 
proselytes probably had to undergo an immersion in order to 
be received into membership in the Jewish religion.! Primi- 
tive Christianity understood, with John the Baptist, baptism 
to be a purification ceremony. (I Cor. vi, 11 ; Eph. v, 26, etc.) 

The difference between unconscious washing symbolism con- 
ditioned by complexes and conscious washing symbolism is 
slight. The former is not understood by the person using the 
ceremonial, the latter is well understood. The difference be- 
comes even smaller yet : The religious baptismal ceremony be- 
came an incomprehensible, magic-working mystery which was 
executed more or less obsessionally with secret fear.$ 

(2) The Meaning of the Symbols 

A. POSSIBILITY OF INTERPRETING SYMBOLS 

Many persons will not dispute the fact of symbols condi- 
tioned by complexes but deny the possibility of a reliable in- 
terpretation and, like Isserlin, accuse the analysts, who never- 
theless venture an explanation, of "grotesque statements." || 

* E. Kautzsch, Die H. Schrift des Alten Testaments, Tubingen, 1909, 
Vol. I. Further examples in Exodus xxxvi, 25, Psalm li., 4 and 9. 

t H. Guthe, Kurzes Bibelworterbuch, Tubingen and Leipzig, 1903, p. 
653. 

I Freud, Zwangshandlungen u. Religionsiibung. Kl. Schriften II, 
pp. 122-131. 

11 M. Isserlin, tJber Jungs "Psychologie der Dementia prsecox" und 



INTERPRETATION OF SYMBOLS 283 

It is to be admitted that in Freud's writings, the proofs 
for particular interpretations are not given in satisfactory 
fulness — volumes would have been necessary to do this. 
But Freud did not write for scholars who would take coun- 
sel and advice only from books, he turned to investiga- 
tors who were willing and capable of opening the book of 
reality. 

The interpretation of many symbols does not really demand 
much acuity of vision. It has been a subject of jest that the 
Zeppelin airship in dreams was considered a masculine symbol. 
The following little fragment of dream analysis will give the 
uninitiated person ground for deciding whether that exegesis 
was so very artificial. 

The patient with obsessional neurosis, aged sixteen, to whom 
I referred on page 72, dreamed : ' ' I saw a Zeppelin airship 
and went after it. It landed in H. on a meadow. Then there 
was something with maps in the car or somewhere else. Then 
I went off and was finally in C. near the station there. I asked 
for directions how to get home and was led to a house. There 
were various dried fish and thick green seaweed, out of which, 
a white worm came. Then, I finally came home. Everything 
was full of laundry in great disorder. Then the Zeppelin flew 
directly over our house and made a kind of salt hail. Then 
someone said to me, that is a trial of a method by which it 
could destroy all crops in case of war. ' ' 

[What comes to mind in connection with the dream?] ''It 
reminds me of the white body of the flounder which was so 
significant for me. 

[The airship.] My oldest anxiety-dream dealt with a 
dragon which flew over my bed. His tail reminded me of the 
worm-shaped organ of the flounder. 

[The meadow.] In its neighborhood, was the river in which 
in the previous dream, I fished for cladophora which in reality 
were not there at the time. One showed a long thin bent stalk 
at the end of which, many threads separated clockwise, the 

die Anwendiing Freudscher Maximen in der Psychopatliologie. Zbl. 
f. Nervenlieilkunde u. Psychiatrie 1907, 329-343 (p. 336). 



284 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

other looked like frog-spawn. The meadow also resembled 
that on which I actually saw the Zeppelin balloon. 

[Maps.] The region of Paris. The key to the signs was 
disagreeable to me. 

[The engineer.] He showed me the maps. 

[C] In a little street by the station, I inquired the way. 
There I saw rays in a show window. 

[The house with the fish.] The table is that of my room. 
The seaweed was an ulva, a structure in reality about a foot 
long. The white worm did not really exist ; it reminded me, 
I think, even in the dream of flounder and dragon's tail. 

[Dirty linen.] As when I go in my room too early before it 
has been put in order. I felt uncomfortable. 

[Did something happen to the linen that night?] At the 
end of the dream, I had a pollution. 

[The salt hail.] I read that such a thing happened in 1870 
when the wind drove seawater upon the land. Otherwise 
nothing. The salt looked in the air like flakes, only on the 
earth like salt. 

[Crops (grain).] I saw something black in the grain that 
I took for a mushroom. It was only pitch however. I was 
angry at being so stupid. I eat much rye-bread. ' ' 

We will not interpret everything in this dream. Our inter- 
est concerns first the airship. It resembles the organ which 
the dreamer considered a member, further the dragon tail 
which aroused anxiety. *'Map" is the vulgar term used by 
young people for pollution stains. Further, the phantastic 
cladophora taken beside the meadow have sexual significance as 
the sketch made by the dreamer immediately betrays. Paris 
comes into consideration as city of immorality. The engineer 
is the analyst who had given his anxious youth quieting as- 
surance concerning the harmlessness of the pollution.* The 
street in C, the disordered linen, the ulva touch the same 

* In very many cases of too frequent pollutions, the mere calming 
assurance without analysis suffices. Concerning severe cases, compare 
chapter XXVII, section 6. 



INTERPRETATION OF SYMBOLS ^85 

sexual theme. The flake-like salt hail over the house refers to 
the cause of the malady, the incest with the sister. To my 
question: **Does not salt serve for sterilization of land?" 
he answered: "I do not think that this is the case here." 
Naturally he is right. Salt is here, as in folklore, symbol of 
creation and fruitfulness, to which Schleiden referred in 1875, 
in his book, ' ' Das Salz. Seine Gesehicht, seine Symbolik, und 
seine Bedeutung in Menschenleben. " (Salt. Its history, its 
symbolism and significance in human life.)* Ernest Jones 
gives a mass of ethnographical proof for the sperma symbolism 
of salt in an exhaustive article. 

How one can deny the sexual significance of the airship in 
this pollution-dream is inconceivable to me. 

In a later pollution-dream, the youth saw Count Zeppelin 
standing there, in a still later one, he caught sight of him only 
on a medallion. Timid minds who take offence at the dis- 
cussion of such objects should notice that the analysis elimi- 
nated not only the extremely complicated obsessional neurosis 
but also improved in most gratifying manner the moral dignity 
of the youth who had caused his parents great concern. 

Space is lacking to give many analyses of symbols. The 
reader will be able to make such for himself very easily if he 
studies this book. 

A symbol can express different thoughts at the same time. 
The cross is the emblem of the Christian religion but also ex- 
pression of the idea that by the greatest sacrifice, the highest 
victory must be purchased, or that even death can afford no 
check to heroic love, or that injustice may befall even the holi- 
est. So also can the symbol conditioned on complexes lay claim 
to many interpretations in order to be fully understood. In 
the dream of the patient with spinal syphilis (251f), most of 
the ideas, for instance, water, gondola, being lifted, pastor, 
etc. had a religious and an erotic meaning. Freud 's dictum : 
Behind one dream interpretation may always lurk another, 

* Compare E. Jones, Die Bedeutung des Salzes in Sitte und Brauch 
der Volker. Imago I, p. 367. 



286 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

so that one is really never sure of having completely inter- 
preted a dream,* is true also of the symbol. 

The question whether every symbol can be interpreted, I 
think should be answered in the negative. Naturally, one 
can find some kind of sense in all. But the deeper an interpre- 
tation is, just so much the more important it is. Since not 
every dream can be interpreted, t and is often condensed into 
a symbol of the dream content, so one need not feel bound 
to decipher every symbol. Nevertheless the connection with 
other dreams and manifestations yields the correct meaning. 

B. TYPICAL SYMBOLS 

One can very well understand that the assertion that cer- 
tain dream ideas signify, always or almost always, such and 
such real objects, should have occasioned violent indignation. 
By this theory, the danger is incurred of wanting to interpret 
the dream mechanically by the aid of a lexicon. This stupid 
method repels one. Stekel, although he has deciphered many 
symbols with great ingenuity, has published others as typical 
with too little motivation and too hasty generalization and 
later recalled them. But he himself emphasizes the artistic 
factor in the dream interpretation.! 

On the other hand, the fact of typical symbols, if they exist, 
facilitates the work of patient and analyst to a considerable 
extent. Let us bow, therefore, to the force of reality. 

That there are typical symbols, I will show first in a neat 
example : the picture of the serpent. The phallic significance 
of the serpent runs through wide stretches of religious history : 
Dieterich relates that in Greece on certain feasts, a phallus or 
a serpent was placed in a chest. || The serpent cult of the 
negroes of Haiti and Louisiana bears a phallic eharacter.H 

* Freud, Traumdeutung, pp. 109, 223. 

t Same, p. 350. 

t Stekel, Die Sprache des Traumes, p. 533. 

II Dieterich, Eine Mitlirasliturgie, 1910. 

11 P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, Lehrbuoh d. Religionsgesch. 



TYPICAL SYMBOLS 287 

Among the Arrhetophorians, pastry in the form of phalli and 
serpents was thrown into the chasm during the Thesmophoria 
in order to obtain fruitfulness in children and harvests.* The 
serpent, besides other objects known to the analyst as sexual 
symbols, is the symbol of Hecate Aphrodisias.t 

The mother of Augustus dreamed that she was impregnated 
by Apollo changed into the form of a serpent and has borne 
since then the figure of a serpent on her thigh. 

The legend also makes use of the serpent symbolism. In 
Bechstein's "Oda und die Schlange," the serpent taken into 
bed by the girl changes into a prince.^ 

Art often replaces the phallus by a serpent. Moricke speaks 
plainly enough in his ''Ersten Liebeslied eines Madchens" 
(First love song of a maiden) : 

"What is in the net? Just look 
But I am afraid; 
Do I grasp a sweet eel? 
Do I grasp a serpent? 
It slips through my hands. 
O, woe! 0, joy! 
With twisting and turning 
It slides to my breast. 
It bites, 0, wonder! 
Me right through the skin. 
Shoots down to the heart. 

love, I shudder! 

1 must be poisoned! 
Here it sneaks around 
Blissfully buries itself 
And puts me to death." || 

Freiburg and Leipzig, 2d ed. 1897, I, p. 25. Maeder gives further 
ethnographic evidence in "Die Symbolik in den Legenden, Marchen, 
Gebriiuchen und Traumen. Psychiatriseh-neurol. Wochenschrift, Year 
X, Nos. 6 and 7. Also Riklin, Wunseherfiillung u. Symbolik im 
Marchen, pp. 40-44. 

* Jung, Wandlungen u. Symbole der Libido. Jahrb. IV, p. 372. 

t Same, p. 307. 

$ Riklin, Wunsclierfiillimg, p. 41. 

II E. Moricke, Samtl. W. W., Stuttgart and Leipzig, p. 8. Jung, 
Jahrbuch. IV, p. 126, 



288 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

If we wished to give the whole poem, we could show with 
ease from a mass of analogies what ' ' bite, " " heart, " " poison, ' ' 
*'bury," "put to death" (umbringen), mean. 

Lessing points out in Laoeoon (Section II) that the mothers 
of Aristomenes, Ariotodoma, Alexander the Great, Scipio, 
Augustus, and Valerius dreamed during their pregnancies 
that they had to do with a serpent. 

Goethe uses the serpent symbol in the same sense. In the 
12th Roman elegy, he describes the person being initiated into 
the Elysian mysteries. 

"Strangely wandered the novice through circles 
Of rare figures; in dream, he seemed to ramble; for here 
Serpents squirmed about on the ground, locked caskets 
Eichly crowned with spikes, girls here bore by, 
Only after many tests and trials, was to him revealed. 
What the sacred circle strangely hid in pictures. 
And what was the secret, except that Demeter the Great, 
Once obligingly submitted to a hero, 
As she once to Jaoon, the valiant King of Crete, 
Granted the gracious secrets of her Immortal body." * 

It is not necessary to tell more clearly what serpent and 
casket signify. 

We too have met the serpent as phallus-representative 
several times : In the obsessional neurotic patient, who, after 
a bath with the father, could no longer hold his hands in 
water for fear of a serpent (72), and in the patient with 
anxiety hysteria who saw hallucinated serpents crawling over 
her feet but which could no longer bite (66), etc. 

I could easily present a number of dreams which give ser- 
pents the same representation. Only two examples : 

"I went with some girls to a meadow beside the flowing 
brooks. In these, lay serpents, small ones about fifteen centi- 
meters long, and large ones which were about six paces long. 
We wanted to jump away but always fell on the serpents. 
I could not jump because of anxiety and called after the others. 
They came and took me home with them. There we made 

•Goethe, Rom. Elegien XII. Zbl. II, p. 291 f. 



TYPICAL SYMBOLS 289 

serpents in sardine-boxes (sic). We cut up the serpents with 
knives, afterwards, put oil on them, no, only water, and ate 
the serpents." 

On that meadow, the dreamer, a twelve year old girl whom 
we met on page 185, had really gone. "With her girl friends, 
she had looked at a picture-book in which there were serpents. 
Further associations did not come. I therefore said outright : 
''Tell quite frankly what really happened." The little one 
reported amid tears that one of her friends had just that morn- 
ing explained, she was so tired. Then she had confessed that 
she had practiced sexual intercourse with a boy, which agitated 
the hearer. The latter, when five years old, had been im- 
properly handled by a boy. The box corresponded, like the 
chest of the Greek feast and the casket in Goethe's elegy, to 
the female organ. Freud calls attention that ttv^i?, English 
box, has this special meaning. The cutting up of the serpent 
corresponds to the sadistic poem, in which, of the children 
crawling in the body, one is dead, one blind and one with a hole 
in its head. The eating of the serpent is that process which 
Freud calls displacement from below upwards.* 

The other dream comes from a fourteen year old hysterical 
girl whom we met on page 212, and abbreviated runs as fol- 
lows: 

"I went away from my parents and met many serpents 
who said to me that I should immediately turn around or a 
great misfortune would befall me. I ran, however, filled with 
anxiety, farther among the serpents. Then I came to a hole 
which was quite black with serpents. They crawled upon me, 
ever closer and closer so that I could scarcely breathe. I 
called : ' Help ! Help ! ' Then my mother and a girl comrade 

* Jung interprets the cutting-up of the serpent as symbolical expres- 
sion of rebirth. The regressive libido is cut up and sacrificed to the 
purpose of the rebirth. He recalls Dionysos who, in the form of a 
serpent under the name of Zagreus, was cut up and whose heart, Zeus 
with the aim of rebirth, swallowed, further he recalls the Orphic sacred 
feast dedicated to Dionysos Zagreus in which the cut-up serpent was 
eaten. A mass of other historical observations also compel him to this 
interpretation of the serpent-symbol. 



290 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

came quickly and cut the serpents apart with knives. Then I 
awoke and was free again." 

The similarity to the preceding dream stands out plainly. 
Again we are dealing with an anxiety dream which with the 
strong pent-up sexual desire of both girls, cannot be wondered 
at. Again the serpent is cut in pieces. 

[The serpents.] "They lay in a ditch beside the road. I 
really saw an adder once, lying so. (The symbolism of the 
ditch is not difficult to decipher in this and the preceding 
dream.) At a fair, I saw a woman who wore a snake about her 
neck. The smaller serpents were about 0.5 meter, the larger, 
some 5 meters long." (As in previous dream; exaggerated 
representation of various conditions.) 

[The warning of the serpents.] "Serpents cannot speak. 
Otherwise, nothing." 

[The hole.] "In the garden of a pension for young men, 
there is such a hole. Water dropped from above (stalactites, 
phallus-shaped). The serpents gave out a white foamy 
liquid." 

[They crawled up.] "On the legs, about the neck and head. 
It seemed very odd to me. I thought, now it is r5ady, now I 
shall be bitten. ' ' 

[Help! Help!] "My father once struck my mother. 
Then I called help, help ! " 

[Mother and comrade come to help.] "They wore red 
aprons. I too have one at home. When my father saw it, he 
scolded because it was too expensive. The comrade, I see 
often ; she does not wish to know me longer but goes into school 
with me, nevertheless." [The cutting up of the serpents.] 
"On my body. Now it came to my mind how father struck 
mother and we scratched him." 

The anxiety itself betrays to everyone who has analyzed a 
few dozen anxiety-dreams, the suspected sexual situation. The 
warning of the serpents shows the fear of sexuality. In the 
garden grotto, the little one often saw young men even years 
before. Behind the encircling serpents, in the first rank, 



SERPENT-SYMBOL ^91 

stands the father ; the little daughter identifies herself with her 
mother while the whole father becomes a serpent which is cut 
in pieces. One notices here besides the sexual desire, the 
sadistic hate. The cause of the dream is the sight of the parents 
united in wedlock after a separation of years, whose bed stood 
beside that of the child.* 

I have now shown in sufficient observations that the serpent 
occurs principally as a masculine symbol. I could show that 
the fish of related shape appears typically in similar applica- 
tion. As proof, I mention only the habit of a normal boy of 
taking fish in the aquarium in his hands, whereupon, a high 
degree of sensual pleasure appeared. Further, the Chinese 
dragon which makes itself now small, now large, could be in- 
troduced with its myths. But the serpent symbol is not yet 
disposed of. 

The serpent appears also as feminine symbol. The serpent 
in paradise is often pictured as a female being, f The woman 
plays a role as serpent also in folk sayings. 

Further, the serpent is the being into which the soul after 
leaving the body changes.^ Jung indeed reads from the pic- 
ture of Priapus who was castrated by a serpent and from a 
man pictured by Rubens as in the flood, to whom the same thing 
happens, as well as many other monuments that the serpent 
may be the own (repressed) will to die.|| 

Conversely, we recognize the serpent again as personification 
of ^sculapius, as genius of mineral spa, incarnate earth- and 
fire-god, etc. Jung remarks : ' ' Whatever else the symbolism 
of the serpent may relate to, its interpretation is very depend- 
ent on age and circumstances of life. To youth, repressed 

* Jung interprets this dream also asexually: The serpents are death- 
symbols ( compare Wandlungen, Jahrb. IV, 462 ) , the flight into caves 
means withdrawal from life. The meaning would then be: Wish for 
the overcoming of the anxiety over rebirth. The anxiety says: You 
should be anxious concerning sexuality, otherwise you will fall into the 
bottomless pit. 

t Jung, Wandlungen, Jahrb. Ill, p. 212. 

t Riklin, Wunscherfiillung, p. 43. 
, jl Jung, Wandl^ngen, Jahrb. IV, p. 472, 



292 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

sexuality is symbolized in the serpent, for the advent of sexu- 
ality brings an end to childhood. To age, on the other hand, 
the serpent signifies repressed death thoughts. ' ' * 

Finally, Jung finds in the dragon which fights the mythologi- 
cal hero, "the repressed libido of the son striving for the 
mother, thus as you might say, the son himself. ' ' t 

At all events, the simple symbol of the serpent is in general 
of many meanings and it is awkward and stupid to identify the 
serpent every time with the phallus.J I have also found the 
serpent atypieally as allusion to the pretendedly poisonous 
tongue of the wife. 

The discussion of one particular typical symbol has detained 
us for some time. I would gladly introduce a number of others 
but we would lose too much time. Enough that there are typi- 
cal symbols in great number. It is also certain that their 
typical interpretation possesses only high probability, never- 
theless, it often renders possible a positively correct explana- 
tion of the connection of the majority of such complex struc- 
tures. He who does not like to publish his intimate secrets, 
should guard against relating to an analyst his dreams and 
phantasies. How often have I had the experience of having 
someone, in spite of warning, persist against this advice and 
blushingly have to acknowledge the interpretation of the 
analyst who read from it impotence or some other discrete 
intimacy ! 

Merely as examples of frequent meanings of typical symbols, 
not as infallible translations, a few especially frequent ones 
may be mentioned. 

As symbol of masculine sexuality appear : 

(a) Objects of similar shape, as pistols, guns, needles, knives, 
daggers, lances, pencils, paper-cutters, umbrellas, towers. 

(b) Male animals: bull,|| elephant, usually with upraised 
trunk, tiger, lion. 

* Jung, Wandlungen, Jahrb. IV, p. 462. 
t P. 395. 

t The same is true of the fish. 

II According to Jung, this appears also as feminine symbol, as also 
the fish (Jahrb. IV, p. 242). 



TYPICAL SYMBOLS 293 

C As feminine symbols are recognized : chests, boxes, pockets, 
books, butterflies, shoes, holes, churches. 

Masculine or feminine may be : bird, dog, cat, mouse, horse, 
tree,* plum, foot, sun (father or mother) . 

Sexual activity is expressed by striking, biting, riding, eat- 
ing, fighting, swimming, flying. 

In the following sections, we shall see whether these sexual 
interpretations must be replaced by a deeper asexual explana- 
tion as Adler and Jung assume. 

How does the knowledge of the most frequent meanings of 
symbols help us in the manifold meanings of symbols? "Were 
it not better that one knew nothing of these meanings and 
sought for himself? Certainly it is desirable that one should 
find as much for himself as possible. But I admit that here 
and there I could not solve a dream but when I put in an inter- 
pretation of Freud's, Jung's or Stekel's, it yielded good sense 
which also fitted excellently in the mental condition as it was 
disclosed'by other phenomena. He who denies typical symbols 
as a matter of principle may quietly investigate and analyze as 
if they did not exist. He will soon perceive his error. Freud 
emphasizes f that typical symbols occasionally occur atypically 
and Stekel, who according to his confession, often errs in this 
respect, recommends taking familiar symbols into consideration 
only as possible solutions.^ 

Freud says expressly that many typical clinical phenomena, 
after their true meaning has become known, will some day dis- 
appear, since the neurosis does not hold its secret before the 
window. 1 1 

c. material and functional. symbolism 
(the libido-symbol) 

Herbert Silberer performed no small service in demonstrat- 
ing the fact that many symbols express objective thoughts, 

*Jung, Wandlttngen, Jahrb. IV, p. 262 (feminine), p. 264' (mascu- 
line). 

t Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 210. 

t Stekel, Fortschritte d. Traumdeutung, Zbl. Ill, p. 158. 

II Freud, Die zukiinftigen Chancen d. Psychoan. Therapie. Zbl. I, p. 7 f. 



294 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

others, on the other hand, subjective performances.* The in- 
vestigations from which his distinctions proceed, are primarily 
of synthetic nature. Meditating on a problem in a sleep-like 
state, he suddenly saw a dream picture before him which repre- 
sented the theme in symbolical form. He was thinking, for 
example, of his scheme for improving a rough place in an 
article, and saw himself planing a piece of wood smooth. Or 
he wishes to warn another from executing a dangerous decision 
since it threatens misfortune and he sees three frightful looking 
horsemen on black steeds charging along over a barren field. 
The analysis of these phantasies would yield refined details of 
the position and solution of the problem of symbols. In con- 
trast to these two material phenomena, we put two functional 
ones : Silberer wishes to recapitulate an association in order 
not to forget it ; he sees an obliging lackey before him. He loses 
the thread in his train of thought ; a piece of composition ap- 
pears to him, the last lines of which have fallen out. Unfortu- 
nately, the keen-witted author omits the exact analysis, prob- 
ably because it would disclose too much intimate material. It 
is evident that in the symbolical representation and solution of 
problems, manifestations of personal complexes would be inter- 
woven. As often as I have employed the interesting method of 
Silberer 's, this union of material and personal interests was 
shown, for the dream is, as a matter of fact, always egocentric, 
indeed, Freud goes so far as' to say, egoistic, t 

AVe now go a step farther than Silberer, Previously, we 
showed that the material phenomena did not mean what they 
expressed but had reference only to an image of reality ( 146 ) . 
He who suffers from a negative father-complex actually hates, 
not the real father, but the father present in his phantasy. If 
one investigates this psychological state of affairs closer, one 
finds that in it besides the conscious grudge, an unconscious 
attachment is fixed by the idea of the bad father, as a result of 

* Herbert Silberer, Bericht ii. e. Methode, Gewisse symbolische Hal- 
luzinations-Ersclieinungen hervorzurufen und zu beobachten. Jahrb. I, 
p. 516 f. The third group, that of somatic phenomena, is less important 
for us here. 

t Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 254. 



FUNCTIONAL SYMBOLS 295 

which, the attitude to other men and to the tasks of life is deter- 
mined thus and so. Or he who dreams of incestuous relation 
to the mother, betrays thereby that his instinct strives toward 
her picture. Thus in the symbols which we have to consider as 
manifestations, there lurks not only a material but also a func- 
tional disclosure. The symbol gives hints concerning the con- 
dition of the subject's own person. Therefore, its recognition 
is of the highest importance for the healing of the sick and the 
exercise of pedagogic influence. 

Also in poetry, an historical figure is often not to be under- 
stood as such. K. F. Meyer said that his Dante in his novel, 
"Die Hochzeit des Monches" (Wedding of the Monk) did not 
stand for the poet but for the spirit of the Middle Ages. 

A young girl who suffered from disagreement with her par- 
ents and loss of affection for her fiance, as well as hallucinations, 
anxiety ideas and melancholia, dreamed : ' ' On the Etzelberg, 
stand two high towers, one of which I climb. I am given a 
sleeping-potion." [Etzel.] "I was there yesterday." 
[Tower,] "The colosseum in Rome; there I climbed around. 
The tower in the dream was much higher. ' ' [Sleeping-potion.] 
" I do not know who gave it. The drink had the same color as 
the sleeping-potion my mother had to take when she was sick 
and could not sleep. I find it sad that one should be in this 
condition." 

[The other tower.] "It is empty. I think there of a pas- 
sionate admirer and a beloved friend who experienced great 
difficulties in their passions and are unhappy. The former 
does not come into consideration for a marriage, the latter suf- 
fers from loss of her love." 

The dreamer identifies herself with her mother : She takes 
her sleeping-potion. The old high tower probably denotes the 
father. The girl does not climb the empty tower on which she 
thinks of people unhappy in love, she does not wish to love her 
fiance in earnest, but allows herself quietly to assume the role 
of the sick, sleep-desirous mother.* Her life-force remains at- 

* Jung explains : One tower is, as often, the mother ( compare 
Maria as ivory tower), the other the father. The dreamer yields her- 



296 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

tached to the infantile, chained to phantasies that have no out- 
look, passive. The bold step into reality, she will not under- 
take. The analysis nevertheless acted satisfactorily; after 
some weeks, the attitude toward the fiance became correct. A 
sincere love replaced the faithless wavering between passionate 
devotion and icy coldness. 

We can determine the meaning of the functional s^^mbol 
somewhat closer still. In order not to create the impression 
that we are dealing with isolated instances, I beg to give still 
another dream. It concerned a man in the thirties, who had 
been married nine years, whose young, pretty and good-natured 
wife felt unhappy and directed her love passionately upon an 
old gentleman, a very plain substitute for her father. Her 
physically superior husband, she underestimated, called him 
terribly tiresome in spite of his culture, was angry at his rare 
courtesy and tenderness and wished either to get a divorce and 
marry the old sport or die. In such cases, it is necessary to 
analyze both husband and wife. The obsession of the desper- 
ate wife who had suffered severely ever since the beginning of 
her married life from her obsessional love for the father-sub- 
stitute, was easy to eliminate. Still, the husband rendered 
difficult a complete regulation of the marital conditions since he 
treated his wife like a sister and was afraid of a child. The 
following dream shows the reason; it was brought out at the 
first consultation : 

"I was on a balloon journey. In the neighborhood of 
Frauenfeld, we climbed out of the basket. For the passage, I 
had paid one hundred francs. Here, more was demanded since 
the trip took considerably longer than had been specified. I 
was afraid that it might be eight hundred or one thousand 
francs. It seemed as if I heard this price mentioned. I 
thought, how shall I get this sum. I asked myself how should 
I pay it since in neighboring H., at a rifle-match, I had shot 
away so much money and on account of bad weather, had hit 
little. My colleague M. was also on the trip and reviled me. 

self to the mother and returns like Holderlin in paradise-like condi- 
tion of sleep (Jahrb. IV, p. 424 ff.). 



LIBIDO SYMBOLS 297 

In the basket, suddenly sits Engineer N,, who would drive the 
balloon farther by making rocking motions with his body 
as in coasting. I awoke. ' ' 

I give only the most important associations. [Balloon jour- 
ney.] "It happened that I was looking at a flying balloon 
when someone told me of psychoanalysis for the first time. At 
that time, the conversation was about a gentleman who lived 
dissolutely, used much money and was to be won to no ideal. ' ' 
[Frauenf eld.] ' ' A friend is seeking a wife and finds none since 
he can never make a decision. He is bombastic. Tomato 
salad, for instance, he calls love 's apple salad. ' ' [Frauenf eld.] 
* ' The barracks there. The Confederation wished them in Wyl 
but the inhabitants of that town explained that they desired no 
Confederation brothel in their city. In Frauenfeld, lives an 
old relative who was unhappy in her love for an artist. She 
did not dare to marry the latter on account of his sister." 
[Basket] *'Hencoop." (Hiihnerkorb). (In Swiss German, 
"hiihnern" is an indecent term.) "I found that the money 
for the whole journey had been demanded previously and was 
embarrassed on account of the money to be raised. I thought 
it would be a disgrace if it were known that I had so little money 
in my purse." [The journey longer than presupposed.] 
* ' The shooting-match in X. was dearer than supposed. ' ' 

[On account of bad weather.] *'My brother-in-law also hit 
nothing and was out of sorts. I suggested sharing a sleeping- 
room with him. My wife said they had demanded more from 
me in marriage than I could give; I have entered upon the 
marriage and have seen that they desire more from me. It 
seemed to me that the balloon trip was the wedding trip. After 
the sexual intercourse on this trip, we were both used up and 
found there was nothing in it, it was not worth the trouble." 

[Colleague M.] "He is a gossip and faultfinder who does 
not, however, defend his idea. Otherwise he is not disagree- 
able, likes a drink, rides out in style. He was my school com- 
rade. He is industrious. Now he possesses his own little 
house. He may have attained advancement by fraud." 

[Engineer N.] "A roue, unreliable, who was attentive to 



298 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

my wife at a ball. He had to marry a girl of doubtful reputa- 
tion ; I had disembarked when N. made his motions. " 

The meaning of the dream is clear. The balloon trip is the 
wedding trip as the dreamer himself interprets it. The inter- 
mediate landing at Frauenf eld discloses the present situation : 
The wife does not wish to stay in her marriage any longer. 
Much more is demanded of him than formerly : Money is true 
love, which so far is lacking, as the unsatisfactory intercourse 
shows. This expenditure of love he cannot make, it had been 
very costly to him Vithout his having won anything worth 
while, as the memory of the rifle-match, to be understood as 
sexual symbolism, shows. The colleague shows traits of the 
dreamer himself: He also finds fault easily but nevertheless 
lacks strong arguments for his ideas ; he also likes to live well, 
longs for his own villa, likes costly trips. To my question, why, 
after nine years of married life, he still does not want children, 
he replied that he would then have to give up house and travel. 
The wife, on the other hand, had longed for children from the 
beginning. Therein he is an egoist who is to blame in great 
part for his trouble, although he believes he is striving only for 
the good. 

The following presentation shows he refused the proper mar- 
riage as immoral (hencoop, brothel, roue) . It is indicated that 
he longs for his sister (the artist who remained attached to his 
sister; passing the night in the room of his sister's husband). 

The meaning of the dream runs as follows : I will not pay 
the price of increased expenditure of love demanded of me for 
the continuation of my marriage and will leave such affairs to 
impure fellows. One understands that the overaffectionate re- 
lation only disguises the deficiency in real love and that the 
wife, whose unconscious naturally perceives the state of af- 
fairs and repays in like coin, could not feel herself gratified. 

Thus, all the dream figures appearing here, embody the re- 
sistance. They are nothing else than resistance-s^Tubols. 
They show why the dreamer does not give up his love : Basket 
(hencoop), Frauenfeld (literally, ladies' field), sums of money, 
shooting-match, colleague, engineer, coasting. This does not 



DEEPER MEANING OF SYMBOLS 299 

say that also in other dreams, every symbol declares resistance. 

In these resistance-symbols, we distinguish one tendency at- 
tracting the love (fixation on the sister) and another current 
repelling the freeing of the love from repression (pleasure 
seeking). 

Which of the two is the more important ? Or is one only a 
derivative of the other? We will consider these questions 
directly. 

First, we will recall that Goethe also knew how often we have 
to understand other people really symbolically. In "Tasso," 
he remarks : ' ' We seem to love the man and we love with him 
only the highest which we can love. ' ' Tell me whom you love 
and I will tell you how it is with your life-desires. 

(3). The Deeper Meaning of Symbols 

According to Freud, the fundamental basis of the neurosis 
lies in the repression of an incestuous relation to the parents. 
Every neurotic individual is an CEdipus who loves his mother 
and would like to kill his father out of jealousy. In this family- 
romance, lies the nuclear complex of all neuroses. 

Jung, on the other hand, considers the mother only as 
libido-symbol. The incest prohibition is only the resistance set 
up against the libido; the symbol-bearer desires no real incest 
but regression to childhood, return to the mother's womb for 
the purpose of rebirth. ' ' One of the simplest ways would be to 
impregnate the mother and to create himself identically again.* 
Against that, the incest prohibition protests. Religions seek 
to attain the rebirth, therefore, by spiritualizing the incest 
phantasy, for example, in Jesus ' talk with Nicodemus f : 
' ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man be not born of water 
and of the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven." 
Jung interprets : " To be born of water always means only : to 
be born from the mother's womb. 'Of the spirit' means: 
' from the fructifying breath of the wind ' % that is, impreg- 

* Jung, Wandhingen, Jahrb. IV, p. 267. 
t John iii, v. 3 ff. 
t Jahrb. IV, p. 268. 



300 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

nated by a spirit-being in extraordinary manner. ' ' Thus the 
person may think of birth from the mother (water), not how- 
ever of copulation with her. In Jesus' command lies also, 
according to Jung, the command to consider the rebirth phan- 
tasy symbollically and thereby set free the incestuous libido. 
"Thus the libido which lies bound, inactive in incestuous 
wishes, suppressed and transformed into anxiety before the 
law and the avenging father-god, may be directed by the 
symbol of baptism (birth from the water) and the creation of 
the symbol of out-pouring of the Holy Ghost over into sub- 
limation. ' ' * 

It is first of all to be emphasized that Jung, although it does 
not appear in the passages cited, by no means always takes 
the mother-image in the sense of pure symbol, that without 
exception, only one phase (that is psychological conception) of 
rebirth with her is to be considered. Also he admits that the 
actual incest desire often actually prevails, even at the time 
when a present inhibition has brought about a regression to 
infantile desires. Herein, he is right, though I wish that I 
could contradict it. 

What the symbolical interpretation of the longing for the 
mother's womb means, can obviously be decided, as Jung also 
admits, not by mythology but by observation on living subjects. 
The following conclusions seem to me certain : "We find often 
with certainty a longing for return to the uterus without a 
trace of desire for rebirth. I analyzed one introverted indi- 
vidual who would have been passionately glad to live in a grave 
his life long as a Buddhist saint and who sat hours at a time 
before the insane asylum with voluptuous longing, meditating 
on how fine it would be to dream within that place the most 
grandiose phantasies until life ended. In his paintings, t were 
plainly seen the wishes for the sight of the undressed mother, 
for taking the father 's place in regard to sexuality, for mutual 
rest with his sister in the mother 's womb. Of rebirth thoughts, 
there was before this analysis no trace. 

*Saine, p. 270. 

t Compare chapter XII, section 9. 



DEEPER MEANING OF SYMBOLS 301 

That, in tlie talk with Nicodemus, a very deep-rooted mother- 
womb phantasy of incestuous character is disclosed and that the 
low, gross desires of people may be won for reality by sub- 
limation, I consider a very important thought. The longing 
for rebirth runs through all secret religions, which, as is known, 
enjoyed an enormous vogue at the time of Jesus, especially the 
Osiris-, Attis- and Mithra-cults. Just as little is the frequency 
of the wish for return to the mother's womb to be doubted. 
Otherwise, whence would come the incredibly frequent mother- 
womb-phantasies ? * That Jesus, in John 's Gospel, gave to the 
gross, regressive, incestuous, mother-womb phantasy, an ethi- 
cally purified religious idea which gained the highest mental 
powers for the noblest application as sublimation, is at least 
very probable. 

That many symbols conceal incestuous wishes is therefore 
obvious and just as certain as the fact that many incestuous 
wishes themselves are to be understood only as compulsory re- 
gression and possess psychological reality only in the same 
sense as the insatiable girl hunger of Don Juan who is ever 
disappointed because unconsciously and fundamentally, he 
seeks only the mother (compare page 126). f Whether the in- 
cest is constantly the innermost nucleus of the symbols, as 
Freud assumes, or whether the incest-wish, even where it ex- 
presses an actual desire, is to be constantly solved as symbol, as 
Jung asserts, is for me undecided. As remarked before (165), 
I consider the incestuous wish to be the expression of an actual 
wish which bears witness to old inhibitions without including 
at the same time a sublimated impulse. That one can after- 
wards read in such an one, is obvious. Often, however, the 
incestuous phantasy already forms the transition required by 
the law of reference to a spiritualization of the incest.J Still 

* Compare my article : Zur Psychologic d. kilnstler. Inspiration. 
Imago II. 

t Freud, Beitrage zur Psycholog. d. Liebeslebens (1st article) Jahrb. 
II, p. 389 ff. 

t Riklin leaves the question open whether the incest-prohibition in 
the manifestation has the same value everywhere. He conceives it now 
aa real, now as symbolical, "now as sexual problem in the narrower 



302 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

more remote from this discussion is Adler 's theory which like- 
wise considers the sexual manifestations as mere symbols, in 
which the tendency to assurance against the feeling of inferior- 
ity, the enhancement of the feeling of personality, comes to 
expression.* 

4. The Pleasure Principle of Thinking as Contrasted with 
THE Reality Principle; Autistic Thinking 

In his article, "Formulations concerning the Two Principles 
of Psychic Activity, ' ' t Freud develops the thought that the 
primary mental processes consist in the production of pleasur- 
ably toned phantasies, while the disillusion which appears 
therewith compels understanding reality so as to be able to 
draw an actual gain of pleasure therefrom. Thus the reality 
principle appears alongside the pleasure principle which 
originally prevailed alone. 

We must consider this theory more closely. In the ' ' Inter- 
pretation of Dreams," we found the following conclusions re- 
garding the pleasure principle : If the child, after it has suf- 
fered from a need (for example, hunger) has experienced 
gratification by outside aid (for example, giving of nourish- 
ment) , then when the need is renewed, that previous experience 
of gratification is considered in hallucinatory % manner, to the 
end that pleasure is attained. || Our night dreams and day 
phantasies are remains of this long past childish mental life.lf 
Bleuler attacks this view. * ' I see no hallucinated gratification 
in the suckling but only one following actual reception of nour- 
ishment. Further, I do not see in the somewhat older child 
that it would prefer an imaginary apple to a real one. " § In 

sense, now as picture of human thought- and culture-development," 
according to the connection, (odipus u. Psa., Wissen u. Leben V 
(1912), p. 552. 

* Adler, U. d. nervosen Charakter, pages 5, 101, 131, 162 f. 

t Jahrb. Ill, pp. 1-8. 

t Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 376. 

II Jahrb. Ill, p. 2. 

If Traumdeutung, p. 377. 

§ Bleuler, Das autistische Denken. Jahrb. IV, p. 26. 



AUTISTIC THINKING 303 

that, he is certainly right but he does not touch Freud for 
the latter has never asserted what Bleuler imputes to him. 
Freud does not say that the hallucination brings about com- 
plete gratification but he speaks in his statement, which is for 
the rest very carefully formulated, of a wish which discharges 
itself in an hallucination as the shortest way to wishfulfillment. 
I admit that I must accord Freud's assumption a high degree 
of probability, especially when one thinks how near to hallu- 
cination very vivid imaginations come. Who imagines so 
facilely as children? I disagree with Freud only in that he 
considers the unconscious processes controlled by the pleasure 
principle as the only original kind of mental processes.* Sen- 
sation must be considered as just as old, thus the reality prin- 
ciple is just as original as the other. The same simultaneous- 
ness of the two, we find in the beginning of conscious life. 
Hallucinations presuppose perceptions, thus reality func- 
tions. 

Against the pleasure principle of Freud's, Bleuler sets up 
the autistic thinking, f It consists in a thinking which is 
characterized by *'the predominance of the inner life with 
active turning away from the outer world." $ In it, the af- 
fectivity predominates. "There are, therefore, no sharp 
boundaries between autistic and ordinary thinking since the 
autistic, that is, affective directions, very easily force them- 
selves into the ordinary thought." H The autistic thinking is 
distinguished from Freud's application of the pleasure prin- 
ciple by two characteristics : 

(1) By turning away from reality ; 

(2) By being conditioned not only by pleasure-hunger but by 
favorite affects.^ 

This second distinction can have no very great importance. 
There is no emotion which does not contain contributions of 
pleasure or pain or both. Further, I can conceive of no affect 

*Jalirb. Ill, p. 2. 

t Bleuler, Das autistische Denken, Jahrb. IV, pp. 1-30. 

t Same, p. 1. 

II Same, p. 4. 

Tf Same, p. 6. 



304 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

which does not serve the elimination of pain and gaining of 
pleasure, even where this acquirement is not conscious. When 
Bleuler refers to the delusion of littleness or delusion of grave 
offence ' ' which may be brought into the pleasure principle only 
by long hypothetical by-ways," I cannot agree with him. I 
have frequently seen the pleasure of self-minimization and 
self -martyrdom, like other masochistic impulses, as conscious or 
unconscious motives and hence do not see why they should be 
withdrawn from the pleasure principle. 

"Whatever the first distinction, the characteristic of with- 
drawal from reality, means, Bleuler expresses clearly only what 
Freud has in mind. The latter will calmly concede to his op- 
ponents that thinking does not bother itself exclusively ac- 
cording to the pleasure principle about contradictions and the 
possibility or impossibility but simply believes what is pleasant. 

The question whether the function of reality or its denial 
is to be understood as an activity of the libido alone, is affirmed 
by Abraham, denied by Bleuler and Jung.* Freud considers 
the question unsolvable at present.! We pedagogues are only 
indirectly concerned with the question at issue. 

Jung differentiates thinking with directed attention % or 
''directed thinking" which can also perhaps be called "gram- 
matical thinking" II from dreaming and phantasying,^ from 
subjective thinking. § For him, these are the two forms of 
thinking. * ' The first is intended for communication, has gram- 
matical elements, is tiring and exhausting, the second, on the 
other hand, deals without tiring, as you might say, spontane- 
ously, with reminiscences. The first creates new acquirements, 
adaptation, imitates reality and seeks also to influence the same. 
The second, on the other hand, turns away from realitj^, liber- 
ates subjective wishes and is entirely unproductive from the 

* Jung, Wandlimgen, Jalirb. IV, p. 182. 

t Freud, Psychoanal. Bemerkungen u. e. Fall v. Paranoia ( Dementia 
paranoides). Jahrb. Ill, p. 65. 
t Jahrb. Ill, p. 128. 
IIP. 134. 
If P. 136. 
§P. 148. 



REALITY-THINKING 305 

standpoint of adaptation.* Directed thinking is entirely con- 
scious, the phantastic, conscious only in part, but "at least as 
much occurs in half -shadow and a large indefinite amount in 
general in the unconscious and is therefore to be made accessi- 
ble only indirectly." t "The conscious phantasies tell us of a 
mythical or other element of wish tendencies in the mind, which 
is either not yet recognized or no longer recognized," J a fact 
which Jung shows in a beautiful example. 

In these sentences the comparison is made of ' ' reality-think- 
ing" with the grammatical and the "directed" thinking. The 
dreamer also often clothes his phantasies with words as one 
may see in the monologues of sleeping individuals or impas- 
sioned poets.ll Further, the phantasies are likewise directed, 
even though not by attention, still by complexes. Very im- 
portant is the remark that the "subjective" thinking — this 
term also is open to criticism^ — ^takes place simultaneously 
consciously and unconsciously. It seems to me that the two 
thought-processes cannot be so sharply separated as is custo- 
marily done. There is no "autistic" or "subjective" thinking 
which may not have taken its elements from the reality-think- 
ing. There often appears in the midst of these phantasies the 
need for logical connection. Inversely, thinking according to 
the reality principle cannot deny being conditioned by con- 
scious pleasure tendencies, not even strict philosophical think- 
ing, which according to Fichte, plainly betrays what kind of a 
man one is. The most exaggerated position in this respect is 
that of pragmatism which, in its more radical form, makes the 
truth of a conception dependent not on its logical foundation, 
but on its practical value. § But our reality-thinking is also 
biased in other ways by conscious or unconscious wishes and 

*P. 136. 

fP. 148. 

$P. 151. 

il Jung distinguishes with right between language (Sprache) and 
speech (Rede). But all speech is also language. 

H There are also scientific opinions which do not deny their subjec- 
tive origin. 

§ Compare the sharpsighted criticism of Diirr in his "Erkenntnis- 
theorie," p. 167-177. 



306 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

its objectivity influenced. Ordinarily, therefore, I prefer 
Freud 's expression : ' ' Thinking according to two principles. ' ' 
Where one of the two is predominantly in the background, we 
may still speak of ' ' phantastic " or " autistic ' ' thinking or of its 
opposite, ''reality-thinking." 

For us who are here concerned only with the manifestations, 
the phantastic principle comes into consideration only so far 
as it is conditioned by the unconscious. For a beautiful exam- 
ple, Jung is indebted to Anatole France : * 

The pious priest. Abbe Oegger, phantasied much over the 
question whether Judas was really condemned to eternal tor- 
ment of hell or, since he acted only as the tool of God, he would 
be granted grace. He implored a sign that Judas was saved 
and felt a heavenly touch on his shoulder. The next day, he 
communicated to the archbishop that he would go into the 
world and preach the gospel of boundless grace of God. Soon 
after, he withdrew from thg Catholic Church. Oegger himself 
was the Judas who betrayed his lord, hence he had to be as- 
sured first of the grace of God. Jung justly remarks : "What 
would Oegger have said if he had been confidentially informed 
that he was preparing himself for the role of Judas ? " t Thus 
Judas became for the priest the symbol of his own unconscious 
tendency. 

A young teacher suddenly finds a girl pupil, who had already 
been entrusted to his care for two years, enchanting and clever, 
while previously she had not impressed him. Why ? Only the 
analysis revealed the reason : He has been in love with a girl 
who was descended from a prominent poet but did not bear 
his name. The pupil had the poet 's name and the forename of 
the beloved. After some months, the pupil receded to the 
every-day level, the teacher treated her coolly. It happened at 
the time that the loved-one began to become indifferent to 
him. 

Many a teacher cannot easily bring himself to judge accord- 
ing to the reality principle the performances of pupils who are 

*Jiiiig, Wandlungen, Jahrb. Ill, p. 149 ff. 
fP. 151. 



AUSTISTIC THINKING 307 

extremely sympathetic to him. An educator influenced by 
complexes can commit the most enormous injustices without 
having only the slightest suspicion of it. Yet the analysis has 
already opened the eyes of one and another to his reprehensible 
conduct. Our scientific judgments are also influenced, times 
without number, by the pleasure principle. We judge a new 
theory only all too often according to our sympathy or an- 
tipathy for those who put it forth, according to the advantages 
or disadvantages which its diffusion will promote for us, etc. 
The struggle against such weakness is easier for us when the 
pleasure factor is conscious. If this factor remains below the 
threshold of consciousness, we fall victims to it in spite of the 
most honest intention, it may be that we escape the unpleasant 
truth by avoiding or forgetting it. 

It is certain that the autistic thinking can bring about a great 
spiritualization and deepening of the emotional life in a good 
sense. But it is equally certain that in the overemphasis of this 
phantasticism, which would offer a substitute for a deficiency 
in reality, an immense amount of noble strength is lost to 
reality. 

Bleuler says : " It is so pretty to spend one 's sympathy ,on 
the phantasied Gretchen that costs nothing but a theatre ticket. 
When, however, the Gretchen in life approaches the Faust 
devotee, she finds stony hearts and closed purses and a Phari- 
saic kick. " * It is seductive, year by year, to sing her un- 
fortunate love in sweet verses but to construct a new and 
healthy life with the aid of reality, costs self-control. Many a 
person robs himself unmercifully by spending his lifetime in 
satisfying himself with phantasies and dreaming of white deer, 
while noble quarry rushes by him. But so we are. Jung 
justly remarks: "He who observes himself attentively and 
relentlessly, knows that a being dwells within him who gladly 
disguises and covers up everything difficult and questionable in 
life in order to carve for himself a free and easy path." t 
' ' The world of the poet is the world of solved problems. Eeal- 

* Bleuler, Das autistisehe Denken. Jahrb. IV, p. 25. 
f Jung, Der Inhalt d. Psycliose, p. 25, 



308 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ity is the unsolved problem."* From these considerations, 
serious tasks develop for the educator. 

With the neurotic, the role of the wish-phantasy is much 
greater than with the normal individual. He puts his whole 
life-force into it. He solves the problems which life imposes 
on him by a phantasy, for every neurotic phenomenon is only 
the automatic realization of an autistic phantasy. It is there- 
fore quite correct for him to esteem an unallowed phantasy as 
highly as an act. To many, the autistic activity is so dear that 
they would rather endure the severest suffering than part with 
it.t 

Grillparzer describes in his poem, *'Der Bann" (The Ban) 
with psychological skill and truth, the automatism which 
devastates life : 

"Farewell, beloved! I must go! 
It drives me forth in fear and woe 
Forth from the dwellings of my friends 
Forth from the woman of my choice. 

For know, when you embrace m.e. 

You embrace no freeman; 

The idol whom you adore 

Is covered with grief and woe. 

The princess to whom the world belong8,t 
Whom all adore, who therein live, 
Before whom all beings bow, 
In madness, I have resisted. 

With her sister || infatuated, 
Who without home and without house. 
Through earth and sky and water wanders, 
I did in mad chase ride. 

In moonbeam, on careless feet, 
I joined with her the spectral host, 
And every honest pleasure renounced 
To gain the vain mirage. 

* Jung, Der Inhalt d. Psy chose, p. 16. 

t Stekel, Fortschritte der Traiundeutung, Zbl. Ill, p. 157 f. 

t Reality. 

II Phantasy. 



GRILLPARZER'S POEM 309 

Then spake the princess, in anger glowing, 
'Disdain thou so what I did bid thee? 
So shalt thou ever be condemned 
To be bird-free e'en unto death. 

From wish to wish in endless sequence 
And restless as thou art, so shalt remain! 
For thee, no home, no place. 
No friend, no brother and no wife! 

A companion though is given thee, 
Thee will he never leave. 
He'll whip thee endlessly through life 
The savage demon, phantasy. 

He'll urge thee on to seize upon 

With eager greed, all that which earthly beauty hast; 

Yet hold, thou must hate all this 

And see the flaw in every joy! 

Condemned the shadows to pursue. 
Lover still of the moment's kiss. 
Thou lackest the power to renounce, 
And self-control in pleasure. 

Thy speech I'll change. 
Thy hearer shall misunderstand; 
Misfortime shall thy acts pursue 
And ever two be head and hand! 

Fly from her who loves thee; 

She whom thou longest for shall recoil from thee in horror, 

Tell her that if she granted 

Thy passion, it would kill her. 

And that the last consolation be denied. 
Perpetual wrath and sorrow be. 
So doubteth he to whom thou complainest 
The reality of thy misery! 

Go on, betrayed in all thy luck, 
And court my sister's favor. 
See if what the life denies 
The art can recompense to thee!" 



310 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

■ Then fared I forth with the powers of night 
And truth it was which she had spoken; 
The heart in my bosom broken 
And the inner driver awake. 

Since then, I wander, banished, alone, 
Betraying others like myself; 
Thou, however, poor woman, weep for 
The one thou lost eternally!" 

The autistic thinking can then become a burden when it 
makes the reality thinking fall short of full development. This 
is the case with many pupils who spin out their phantasies with 
immense demand upon the emotions, for hours at a time, or 
carry their complexes in the material afforded by these phan- 
tasies in order to continue the automatism. The passion for 
reading of many children is to be judged from this standpoint. 
This phenomenon always occurs only in children whose de- 
mands for love, mastery or execution are too little gratified in 
reality. From the kind of reading preferred, a skilled edu- 
cator can at once say what kind of an unsatisfied longing exists 
in the young book-worm : whether love-hunger or hate, sadism 
(detective novels) or desire for recognition. Even plans for 
invention often form a bit of automatism. Behind the avia- 
tistic endeavors of boys, there often exists that sexual desire 
which also manifests itself with extreme frequency in dreams 
of flying. If one forbids such automatisms without providing 
something better, one blocks up a harmless, indeed under cer- 
tain circumstances, useful outlet and easily strengthens the 
father-complex, while by means of analysis, the condition is 
often easily corrected and fundamentally improved. Excessive 
smoking, sport and other youthful pleasures are often to be 
considered automatisms. Obviously they are to be interfered 
with analytically only when they endanger the mental and 
social position of the individual. 

The task of the analyst consists, therefore, very often in 
guiding back the pleasure-seeking automatist from his ' ' private 
theatre," his "cloud-land," and gaining his life-energy for 
humanity and productive ends. 



SUBLIMINATION 311 

5. Sublimation 

(a) its psychological phenomena 

In every manifestation, an instinct which has been inhibited 
from direct activity seeks to create an indirect expression. 
Among substitute formations, we found many pathological con- 
ditions : the whole array of neuroses and psychoses, as for exam- 
ple, physical (hysterical) disturbances, anxiety and obsessional 
phenomena, delusions of reference (of grandeur and of perse- 
cution), etc. 

There is also, however, a useful application of the libido 
deprived of its primary or direct function. It consists ' ' in the 
erection of a higher goal which is no longer a sexual one, for the 
particular impulses, in place of the unsuitable one. " * "To 
the contributions of energy gained in such manner for our 
mental performances, we are probably indebted for the highest 
cultural attainments. A premature appearance of the repres- 
sion excludes the sublimation of the repressed instinct ; after the 
elimination of the repression, the way to sublimation becomes 
open again." f 

In formal aspect, the sublimation, the great importance of 
which for education is easy to perceive, puts before us no new 
phenomena. That the complex creates for itself new ideas 
(analogies, cover phantasies, composite formations, symbols), 
we have shown (pages 224f, 245f, 273f). We likewise spoke of 
transposition of emotion (page 209). To the concept of subli- 
mation, belongs nevertheless, the fact that the pent-up instinct 
is expended not only at the mental level but also that this in- 
stinctive activity is recognized as superior and of high ethical 
value. 

Thus it is no sublimation when Margaretha Ebner stills her 
passion in her phantasies of the figure of the Savior or when 
Zinzendorf satisfies his perverse sexual desires, his sadism, his 
homosexuality, on the figure of the heavenly bridegroom plainly 

* Freud, tJber Psychoanalyse, p. 61. 
t Same. 



312 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

endowed with masculine and feminine sex characteristics, to 
which end, he changed himself in his foolish phantasies into a 
woman. Such unrefined, unpurified eroticism which gives rein 
to its ardor in religious phantasies of extraordinary emotional 
intensity, does not deserve the name of sublimation. I have 
proposed the name ' ' elevation ' ' for it.* History shows us that 
this autistic love-delirium is intimately associated with moral 
incapacity. Viewed from the esthetic standpoint, it is usually 
ugly — one of the most beautiful exceptions is formed by Mech- 
thild of Magdeburg — in religious ethical aspect, it belongs to 
the most deplorable phenomena. The worship of Baal by the 
Canaanites with its orgies and Islam with its sensual hope in 
the future belong here, while the great Israelitish prophetic 
writers transport the libido into powerful social impulse and 
an ethically important piety, thereby winning true sublimation. 
Base elevations meet us in the inquisitors who indulged their 
sadistic desires in the name of religion in order to do it with 
calm conscience. 

The sublimation can turn chiefly to emotional expressions, 
for example, love of nature, art and poetry. It also travels 
very often, however, with great success the paths of the voli- 
tional activity and leads to general usefulness, social work, 
humanitarian enthusiasm. Finally, it changes the manner of 
thinking and becomes philosophy, mathematics or astronomy. 

Examples of the artistic and religious sublimation, we shall 
demonstrate later. At present, only some cases of intellectual 
and social higher directing of the life-energy will be introduced. 
Freud recalls that Rousseau in sexual embarrassment received 
from a woman the advice to leave the women and study mathe- 
matics, t 

Wherever I found passionate devotion to astronomy or post- 
age stamps among married women, there was always tlie need 
of love in the background as I showed on page 207. 

In a student aged twenty-four, I found great preference for 
Plato and Kant proceeding from the wish for gratification of 

* Pfister, Marg. Ebner. Zbl. I, p. 483. 
t Freud, Gradiva, p. 29. 



SUBLIMATION 313 

sexual need. Both philosophers, as is well known, deny sen- 
suality and admire the strongest preference for the intellect. 

One young lady showed very prettily the humanitarian sub- 
limation : As trained nurse, she hoped to be trusted with the 
care of her new-born nephew. The jealous sister-in-law de- 
clined her aid and engaged a stranger who by bad conduct 
brought the child into mortal danger. The disdained deaconess 
founded a child 's nursery and thus turned her life-force to the 
use of the community. 

Similar ethical transpositions are described by Ibsen at the 
end of his ''Klein Eyolf," by Bjornson in his novel, ''Der 
Vater." 

(b) the psychological process 

The sublimation appears to be a very simple process. The 
man about town who has his desires gratified, has no other inter- 
est, no strength for cultural achievements. The primarily un- 
satisfied life-instinct soars to a higher level as the damned up 
flood rises. 

But the comparison limps. The sublimation product is in no 
way merely a function of pent-up instinct. It would be non- 
sense to wish to consider the derivation of the law of tangents 
or the calculation of a fixed star by a starving married woman 
as a sexual function and it would be just as senseless to con- 
sider religion or art or morality merely as a performance of 
repressed instincts, as for instance, inhibited love, hunger, am- 
bition, etc. Let us not forget that the reality-thinking also has 
its share in all high works of culture, even in the logic of genu- 
ine art and that the inhibition of the life-force in one instinct 
may stimulate other instincts. Freud speaks in the place cited 
only of mental performances which receive investments of 
energy (from the unconscious) in the sublimation. It is also 
obvious that logical, musical or architectonic emotions appear 
without being derived from complexes. 

How the higher movement of the instinct actually proceeds, 
is not easy to see. Diirr defines sublimation ' ' as the utilization 
of sensual dispositions in the service of ideas and thoughts more 



SU THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

valuable to the organic resonance and in particular also ideas 
and thoughts motivating valuable acts. " * " The sensuality, 
that is, the totality of the dispositions related to the sensations 
of special sense, the emotions joined to these and the instinctive 
acts thereby conditioned, forms the basis of the human mental 
life, from which, no one who will remain active mentally or 
physically can tear himself loose, just as little as one can suc- 
ceed in jumping over one's own shadow." "The sensations 
produce, by ideas and thoughts centrally conditioned and ex- 
cited indirectly over motor nerve paths, the resonance so im- 
portant for all mental life.t By inhibitions of sensuality and 
especially of that part of the same belonging to the sexual 
sphere, energies are dammed up which benefit valuable func- 
tions by appearing in the service of their organic resonance. 

If we consider Diirr's "energies" as dynamic expression of 
the libido, which I think correct, then I do not know what objec- 
tion we would have to offer from the psychoanalytic side against 
these theories and we can only rejoice over the fact that so 
distinguished a psychologist agrees with Freud on one of the 
most important points. Only I cannot understand the expres- 
sion, "resonance" clearly enough and think that we are in a 
position to describe the sublimation process more exactly by the 
aid of the theory of the paths of the complexes described by 
us, especially the theory of memories, symbols, condensations, 
transpositions and counter-reactions (still to be considered). 

According to these theories, the life-force turns from primary 
functions chiefly to such higher activities as realize those func- 
tions symbolically, that is, those that afford the maximal con- 
version of the original tendency. 

(C) CAPACITY FOR WORK AND BARRIERS TO SUBLIMATION 

The neurotic fixation hinders the sublimation and therein 
shows itself to be the enemy of the higher civilization. It binds 
the instinct in harmful chains. The sublimation, on the con- 

* Ebbinghaus, Grundz. d. Psych., 3rd ed. revised by E. Diirr, II 
(1913), p. 585. 
t P. 584 f . 



CAPACITY FOR SUBLIMATION 315 

trary, creates life conditions for the instinct whicli, under 
favorable circumstances, affords a higher degree of happiness 
and ethical efficiency. There are people who in full health 
find a rich life interest in art, science, philanthropy, and re- 
ligion but are extraordinarily reserved in relation to sensual 
pleasures (in broadest sense). 

Not all people possess the capacity for this transformation, 
however. The ''mobility and capacity for transformation of 
the libido, ' ' which according to Jung,* forms the secret of cul- 
ture, varies greatly in different individuals. Many persons 
have no trouble in making the sacrifice which exists in every 
sublimation, the renunciation of certain lower desires. Others, 
however, cannot give up such demands. Freud finds: "A 
certain part of repressed libidinous impulses has a just claim 
to direct gratification and should find this in life. Our cul- 
tural demands make life too hard for most human organizations, 
compelling thereby the renunciation of reality and the originat- 
ing of the neuroses, without attaining a surplus of cultural gain 
by this excess of sexual repression. " f It is a thought similar 
to that of Luther's who took the field against the monastic sub- 
limation practice. Pure elevation of instinct which goes be- 
yond the power of the individual, often leads to fanaticism, 
narrow-mindedness, narrowing of the horizon. The danger of 
immorality often lies nearer to forced, inwardly constrained 
sublimation than one thinks. The ascetics who have renounced 
all worldly pleasure are most strongly exposed to temptation. 
It is not just to consider zealots for morality who had fallen, as 
hypocrites. Schiller says well and truly: "The fire which 
the Heavenly Venus enkindles, is turned to account by the 
earthly and the natural instinct often avenges itself for its long 
neglect by a mastery just so much the more unbridled. ' ' % 

A certain amount of primary application of instinct seems 
for many persons to be a presupposition for sublimation of at 
least a part of the instinct. I know an official who had fallen 

* Jung, Wandlungen, Jahrb. Ill, p. 134. 

f Freud, tJber Psychoanalyse, p. 61. 

i Schiller, U. Anmut u. Wlirde (Abschnitt "Wiirde"). 



316 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

out with his wife and was a slave to drink, who maltreated his 
wife and child, so long as his demand for love remained un- 
satisfied. He fell in love with a widow and carried on an inti- 
mate relation with her. From that hour, his morals left noth- 
ing to be desired. After more than a year, his legal wife wrote 
the widow a warm letter of thanks for having changed the 
supporter of the family into a noble man and begged her not to 
give up the relation from moral considerations. In some simi- 
lar cases, which were likewise outside my pastorate, I saw 
alcoholism disappear in the presence of love and immediately 
return after erotic inhibition. 

The Protestant morality with its affirmation of the primary 
instinctive life, so far as it serves the moral idea, is thus sub- 
stantiated by psychoanalysis. 

Of extraordinary pedagogical importance are the cases 
in which a sublimation is built up on neurotic repression. 
The housewife who can give her husband no love, seeks 
to afford a compensation by passionate devotion to fulfiling 
her household duties; the merchant flees from his sexual 
obligations into business, the pupil occasionally into his tasks. 
This work performed by force (of will) absorbs an enor- 
mous amount of strength and easily leads to severe states of 
exhaustion. Such people suffer from inner inhibitions and 
grievous, unconfessed self -accusations ; they must exert pow- 
erful effort to repress their need, to overcome their feelings 
of deficiency, to attain properly their repression and sublima- 
tion. From this struggle, which, as we know, is a contest 
with illusions and ghosts, only the conscious compromise with 
reality saves. 

Of the many factors which can destroy the sublimation and 
have always been familiar to the educator, I may mention only 
one, since psychoanalysis shares in regard to its important 
theories: alcohol. Different authors (0. Gross,* Abraham,! 

* O. Gross, Das Freud'sche Ideogenittitsmoment u. s. Bedeutung im 
manisch-depressiven Irrsinn Kraepelins, Leipzig, 1907. 

t C. Abraliam, D. psycliol. Beziehgen. zw. Sexualitiit u. Alkoholism. 
Zschr, f. Sexualwiss. 1908, No. 8. 



EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLISM 317 

Freud,* Juliusberger,! FerencziJ and others), have recognized 
that alcoholism in many cases is to be considered as the result 
of complexes, as neurotic compulsion. I consider this fact as 
proven. Even if we knew nothing of the effect of alcohol in 
deadening, in causing amnesia and freeing primary tendencies, 
we would have to expect a priori, neurotic compulsion to alco- 
holism. Experience confirms this surmise. Also we know 
something of the causal connection between alcoholism and the 
complex, even though not everything, and I am surprised that 
Bleuler disputes this finding. Further, I consider Freud's dic- 
tum that alcohol releases the (ethical) inhibitions and renders 
sublimations regressive || to be proven empirically. Bleuler 
disputes this opinion and remarks : ' ' What kind of sublima- 
tions would become inversely manifest under the influence of 
alcohol at a patriotic celebration or some other kind of moral 
festival, everyone knows who knows how to observe. ' ' Tj The 
objection does not apply. Bleuler will probably only assert 
ironically that alcohol creates sublimations. The moral dispo- 
sition at patriotic celebrations is already present before the alco- 
holic pleasure. If this disposition is inflamed by alcohol, then 
this can form a counter-reaction to immoral impulses or — what 
I consider improbable — can signify a better performance anal- 
ogous to the intellectual ones which appear immediately after 
the taking of alcohol. That the large consumption of alcohol 
very soon frees the human brute from the prison of the moral 
control, Bleuler knows as well as Tolstoi or any other student 
of humanity. 

Does it follow now, however, from the fact that alcoholism 
often, naturally not always, figures as manifestation and as 
such, as we shall hear, possesses a certain function as protection 

* Freud, Psa. Bemerkungen u. e. Fall v. Paranoia. Jahrb. Ill, p. 
56 f. 

t O. Juliusberger, Beitrag zur Psychol, der sog. Dipsomanie. Zbl. II, 
pp. 551-557, Zur Psychol, d. Alkoholismus, Zbl. Ill, pp. 1-16. 

t Ferenczi, V. d. Rolle d. Homosexualitat i. d. Pathogenese d. 
Paranoia. Jahrb. Ill, p. 106 f. 

II Freud, Paranoia, p. 56. 

H Bleuler, Alkohol u. Neurosen. Jahrb. Ill, p. 852. 



518 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

or relief valve, that we should fight against it less energetically ? 
Ferenczi said on a basis of statistics, the reliability of which 
he himself impugned, and still more on the basis of his own 
observations: "The destruction of alcoholism is thus an ap- 
parent improvement in hygiene. For the mind from which 
alcohol is withdrawn, there are numerous other ways at hand 
for flight into illness. And if the psychoneurotic, instead of 
falling into alcoholism, comes to anxiety-hysteria or dementia 
prsecox, one regrets the enormous expenditure of energy which 
was put in motion against alcoholism at the wrong place." * 

I cannot accept this reasoning. If Ferenczi admits that the 
powerful alcoholic desire of the neurotic leading to debauchery, 
destroys the sublimations and is "an unconscious attempt at 
palliative self -treatment by poisoning the censor," then he 
must fight sincerely against the enemy. The proof for the 
belief that the enjoyment of alcohol provides a defence against 
dementia prgecox or anxiety-hysteria, he has not attempted to 
offer. He too knows plenty of neurotics and psychoties among 
alcoholics. In addition, as Jimg reproaches him, he leaves out 
of consideration the social aspect. 

Certainly, I admit that many alcoholics can be cured only 
by psychoanalysis. I substantiate indeed that many one-time 
drinkers can attain by analysis the power to enjoy alcohol with- 
out injury. Since this, however, is not by far the case with all 
victims of alcohol, since a mass of psychological, hygienic and 
politico-economical facts prove the collective effect of alcohol to 
be enormously injurious and standing in no perceptible rela- 
tion to its advantages, since further, psj^choanalysis is to-day 
and perhaps always will be inaccessible to many endangered by 
alcohol, I would greatly regret with Bleuler if one attempted 
to apply psychoanalysis against the abstinence movement. 

It may estrange some individuals that psychoanalysis should 
find sexual energies in the highest achievements. Therefore, 
it should be remembered that keen observers of the human mind 
have already recognized this fact before. Schiller writes: 
"If the sensual nature in moral affairs were always only the 

* Ferenczi, Jahrb. Ill, p. 107. 



NIETZSCHE ON SEXUALITY 319 

suppressed party and never the coactive, how could it yield 
the whole fire of its emotion to a triumph which is celebrated 
over itself ? How could the sensual nature be so lively a parti- 
cipant in the guilty self -consciousness of the pure spirit if it 
could not finally join the spirit so intimately that even the 
analytic reason cannot separate one from the other without 
violence ? " * And Nietzsche testifies : * ' The degree and na- 
ture of the sexuality of a person extends even to the highest 
point of his mind. ' ' t Another time, he says : * ' Therewith 
the possibility should not in the least be excluded that that par- 
ticular sweetness and fullness which is suited to the esthetic 
condition, may take its origin from the ingredient ' ' sensuality ' ' 
(as from the same source, that ''idealism" arises which is suited 
to the marriageable girl), — that therewith, the sensuality is not 
eliminated upon the entrance of the esthetic condition as 
Schopenhauer thinks, but is only transfigured and no longer 
appears in consciousness as sexual stimulus. ' ' % Nietzsche 
puts forward the thesis: ''Almost everything which we call 
"higher culture" rests on the spiritualization and deepening of 
cruelty — this is my hypothesis ; that savage beast has not been 
killed at all, it lives, it flourishes, only it has deified itself. That 
which constitutes the painful pleasure of the tragedy is cruelty ; 
that which works agreeably in so-called tragic sympathy, in- 
deed in all sublime even to the highest and tenderest thrill of 
metaphysics, gets its sweetness entirely from the intermingled 
ingredient of cruelty. That which the Romans enjoyed in 
the arena, Christ in the ecstasies of the cross . . . these are 
the spiced drinks of the great Circe, cruelty." || How sad 
that Nietzsche spoiled correct insight by exaggeration. 

6. The Reaction-Formation 

Among the sublimations, under which name I understand 
the products of the sublimation process, there is a group which 

* Schiller, u. Anmut u. Wiirde. 

f Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und Bose. Aphorismus 75. 

t Nietzsche, Zur Genealogie der Moral, 3rd Article, section 8, 

II Nietzsche, Jenseits, III Part, p. 229. 



320 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

proceeds from the repression of a counteracting impulse. This 
group is called that of the reaction-formations. 

Even in the simplest manifestations of the dream and neu- 
rotic symptom, we often find that an idea to be expressed, is 
denoted by its opposite. This inversion, Freud calls indeed 
"one of the favorite means of representation capable of 
the most many-sided application in the dream work, " * I my- 
self have not met the condition so often. In some cases, the 
representation by opposite was also conditioned by a positive 
motive. If, for example, according to Spielrein,t the sexual 
activity is expressed by death symbolism, then I would trace 
this incontestable phenomenon back not only with her to the 
negative mechanism but also and chiefly to the disappearance of 
the senses in the ecstasy. Or when Jung, at that time still 
assistant physician, is dreamed of as a little man with beard and 
no longer young,$ so there again, a positive basis may be 
coactive : the jeer at him by the comparison with a superior who 
showed the characteristics named. 

Still, as mentioned, I admit representation by opposite. The 
normal life shows the same process: irony and contradictory 
meaning of primitive words, H Freud discusses the latter in 
his article on a work of Karl Abel who shows that in the 
Egyptian, a considerable number of words denote a thing and 
its opposite. ' ' To command ' ' means also * ' to obey, " " strong ' ' 
means also "weak," etc. The Latin "altus" means "high" 
and "deep." Language also shows another favorite inversion 

* Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 238, 

t S. Spielrein, tj. d. psycholog. Inhalt eines Falles von Schizophrenie. 
Jahrb. Ill, p. 400, 

$ Zbl. I, p. 267. 

II Here the inversion is also to be mentioned. Among the ancients, 
one often finds mirror-writing, of which Leonardo da Vinci also fre- 
quently made use. The child too loves this old mannerism at 
a certain age, as speaking backwards. Bertha Mercator, in a little 
novel, has an old professor say to a young nurse: "You old boy? 
Do you not understand? This is a circumlocution. Just when it 
is clear to me that you are a pretty, very young girl, then I must 
call you 'old boy' else I would become sentimental which is disgusting 
to me." 



REACTION-FORMATIONS 3^1 

found in automatic secret speech and hysteria, for example, 
"Topf" is called pot in English, Balken: klobe, club.* 

In tha reaction-formation, the life-force which belongs to a 
repressed, thus unconscious, instinctive activity, applies itself 
to a manifestation which pursues the opposite direction, either 
on the same level or a higher one. Bleuler calls the instincts 
appearing in contrasting pairs or the ideas accompanied simul- 
taneously by positive and negative emotions, ambivalent. t We 
meet an ambivalence of a higher order in the reaction-forma- 
tion. 

A lady of thirty-seven years suffered from fanaticism over 
purification and truth. She washed herself daily for many 
hours and daily put on fresh underwear. Because for reasons 
of affection, she concealed from her husband that though full 
of admiration for him, she did not love him as dearly as she 
wished, she suffered unspeakably but did not dare to make him 
unhappy. As a child, she was extremely unclean, wetting her 
bed until her tenth year. In school, she experienced a scene 
which troubles her even to-day: She declared a circle to be 
drawn free-hand, but the teacher discovered the hole made by 
the point of the compass. 

The fanatical adherent of nature-cures, who makes a tre- 
mendous cult of health, proves without exception in cases 
analyzed by me, to be a neurotic, who would drown out the 
consciousness of illness. In so doing, many fall into the most 
unnatural activities. 

The man who is horrified at the nude, who goes into a rage 
over a harmless clay model, regularly discloses in the analysis 
a mass of dirty wishes which are held in check only with diffi- 
culty. Fanaticism over morality is often merely a refuge for 
weak voluptuaries who are afraid of sinking in the mire of 
wickedness. 

The flatterer conceals by his cringing nature his evil mind. 
He cannot disclose how he feels because he would betray him- 
self. His reaction-conduct looks forced, insincere. 

* Freud, ij. d. Gegensinn der Urworte. Jahrb. II, pp. 179-184. 
t Bleuler, Das autistische Denken, Jahrb. IV, p. 20. 



322 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

One whose harmless joys of childhood were embittered by 
over-austere parents, turns to a gloomy Puritanism which is 
far separated from liberal charity.* 

The gushing harlequin and joke-maker is uncommonly often, 
certainly in a majority of instances, an unhappy person who 
wishes to get a double value from the moment, for behind him 
lurks dire misery. 

We have already discussed the fact that the desire, torn from 
an erotic object and repressed, often turns to a contrasting 
substitute, a person who possesses the opposite characteristics. 

Wherever an expression of will appears very extreme, fanati- 
cal, strikingly one-sided, the suspicion is aroused that we are 
dealing with a reaction-formation. 

The importance of the subject causes me to add a few addi- 
tional examples: A girl, aged fifteen, loves the mother as 
passionately as she hates the drunken step-father. If the 
former does not come home at the minute expected, the child 
suffers a severe anxiety attack and runs weeping through the 
streets seeking for her. In her dreams, she regularly sees the 
mother dead. Some time before, she was in the habit of wan- 
dering at night and at that time w^eut to an umbrella-stand in 
the dark hall, from which she could not free herself, so that she 
awoke with loud cries of anxiety, whereupon the parents ran 
to her aid. Asked for her associations to that place, the girl 
said at once that she was afraid a man would step forth there. 
This man, she described with the characteristics of her step- 
father who put his umbrella (typical sexual symbol) in that 
stand. The repressed sexual desire corresponded to the con- 
scious hate — the man is too coarse to allow of love being men- 
tioned — as jealous hatred lay at bottom of the unnaturally 
strong love for the mother (female (Edipus-complex). 

A widower, aged thirty-eight, complained to me that his long- 
ing for his wife who had been dead five j^ears, was constantly 
increasing. He could never marry another, no matter hjow 
necessary she might be to him and his children. His marriage 

* E. Jones, Psyeho-Analysis and Education. Journal of Educational 
Psychology, Nov. 1910, pp. 497-520. 



REACTION-FORMATIONS 323 

had been "wonderfully harmonious," "really ideal," it was 
' ' absolutely out of the question that he could ever find a simi- 
larly perfect happiness." The forced expressions struck me 
as odd. I made inquiries therefore, whether there had never 
really been a disturbance of the marital relation. The widower 
reported that some months before the wife's death, something 
happened, but he guarded well against looking squarely at it. 
In case something had happened, he has pardoned it. Really, 
when his wife was staying for treatment at a sea bathing place, 
the director of the hotel where she lived wrote him that the 
patient was excited by a love-affair, the husband might 
straighten it out. The wife declared herself innocent ; an in- 
vestigation cleared the way for her husband. It turned out 
further that sexual intercourse had been discontinued long be- 
fore. It came to light further that the wife, after she had 
clung to him in the first years of their wedded life, had taken 
sides against him in favor of her mother, while he had inwardly 
returned to his own mother. In short, the marriage had really 
been unsettled but the widower clung to an illusion which he 
had constructed out of the first part of his married life. 

A dream revealed the true ground : he lies undressed in bed ; 
his mother goes by the window and sees him. Analysis : The 
day before, a charming lady who was in love with him and 
whom he had courted for a year, had gone by. From the lady, 
he makes his mother to whom he loves to show himself in the 
manner of a love-hungry child. One understands now why 
the man, whose sexuality is fixed in the infantile exhibitionism 
in respect to the mother, incapable of love, glorified the earlier 
love. 

I found quite similar motives in a man of some fifty years 
who, after the sudden death of his wife, suffered from a severe 
anxiety neurosis. He accused himself of having called too few 
physicians to the death-bed of his wife and thus to have been 
guilty of her death. His marriage had been of wonderful sin- 
cerity, there never lived two people so suited to each other, so 
devoted to all noble, public-spirited works, as he and his wife, 
etc. That sounded very fine but still I was not surprised when 



324 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

the morally vain man disclosed himself as syphilitic who had 
had no conjugal intercourse for years and had oppressed his 
wife with brutality. The undoubtedly very intimate love in 
consciousness was only the reverse side of a deep estrangement. 

Among the reaction-formations, two kinds are to be differ- 
entiated: some as additional affirmation, others as additional 
negation. The pastor's son, too strictly educated, can tend 
either to Catholicism or political absolutism and find a father- 
substitute with fanatical zeal in priest or sovereign, or he may 
become libertine, revolutionary or anarchist. He who has 
fallen out with the mother may easily fall passionately in love 
with an elderly lady or hate all girls. 

The reaction-formations are in no way so good from the 
ethical standpoint as one is often tempted to believe. Freud 
says in one place : "He who has become overgood from violent 
suppression of a constitutional tendency to hard-heartedness 
and cruelty, will frequently expend so much energy in the effort 
that he will not execute everything which corresponds to his 
compensation-impulses, and on the whole, will accomplish 
rather less good than he would have brought about without sup- 
pression."* Therewith, it naturally would not be recom- 
mended to yield the reins to cruelty but it indicates the neces- 
sity for a rational sublimation. Every unprejudiced indi- 
vidual will admit that the enemy to enlightenment whose nar- 
row-minded strictness vexes youth, does less and can do less 
for charity than the individual who has grown in the light of a 
broad friendliness, f 

7. The Rationalization 

If one gives to the suitable subject in hypnosis a command 
which is to be executed only after the subject's awakening, then 
the subject becomes obedient to the order, the origin of which 
is entirely hidden from him. If he gives himself or others 

* Freud, Die "kiilturelle" Sexualmoral und die moderne Nervositiit. 
Kl. Schriften II, p. 196. 

t We shall see that in the place of the counter-reaction in the mani- 
festation, dependent on unconscious instinctive impulses, the clearly 
elucidated reaction based on control of instinct should appear. 



RATIONALIZATIONS 325 

justification for his action, he devises instead of the real ground 
for action, some kind of excuse or other, as plausible as possible. 
Forel gives two simple examples: He says to a hypnotized 
person : "After you awaken, the idea will come to you to put 
the chair there, on the table. ..." The one commanded, 
obeys. Asked for his motive, he says the chair was in his way. 
The suggestion that he will take a hand towel and wipe his 
face, he likewise executed ; as reason for the action, the asser- 
tion that he has perspired so freely, serves.* Such an argu- 
mentation which wishes to give a rational reason for an action 
(often a thought process) which proceeds from unconscious 
motives, is called, in accordance with Jones ' proposal, rational- 
ization. 

This process plays a role in daily life which is scarcely to be 
overestimated so that the educator must be thoroughly familiar 
with it. All feelings and actions are rooted in good part in the 
unconscious and so far as they rest on rational motives, it is a 
rationalization. 

Someone would submit to an analysis which he has recog- 
nized as beneficial. But he finds a thousand objections which 
he himself believes : His parents will be compromised by his 
confession, the educator might have been guilty of an indiscre- 
tion, he would lose his independence. Or, during the analysis, 
the explorer is now too cool, now too cordial, his face is unsym- 
pathetic, his voice sounds hypocritical, he is capricious, ambi- 
tious, etc. And yet the motive lies in resistances against rend- 
ering conscious of unpleasant occurrences supposedly overcome, 
and against the new-canalization of the instinct, against the 
revelation of infantile wishes and against the mastery of reality. 
Or transference processes take part, which we will discuss later. 

A young analytic patient feels every morning a dislike for 
her fiance who at evening is entirely sympathetic to her. She 
thinks she knows the exact reason for this : The youth is not 
so very handsome. The fact that this ground for antipathy 
must also have held at evening, the otherwise intelligent girl 
has not noticed. In reality, the young hysterical suffers from 

* Forel, Der Hypnotismus, p. 32 f. 



326 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

a distaste for sexual life grounded in the unconscious: One 
morning, she had surprised her parents and experienced an un- 
conquerable fear which she repressed. This connection she 
found herself, whereupon the erotic disturbance ceased. 

The choice of a vocation is also often rationalized. The 
patient with obsessional neurosis mentioned on page 73, in 
whose life, noli me tangere, crabs, jumping bugs, flounders, etc., 
played a great role, had to study natural science. He sought 
fundamentally, as almost all his dreams showed, the sexual 
secret. Instead of this motive, he gave quite other ones. 

A young man who married the mother of his friend, gave as 
motive : His wife could cook so well, sew and keep the house in 
order. That young girls are also skilled at these tasks, he had 
to admit. His attachment to his mother, he did not recognize. 
The student, aged twenty-three, of whom we spoke on page 
269, did not bring a rationalization for a long time. He in- 
formed me that he was inextricably in love with a lady of 
forty, although he considered a union with her foolish. 

Especially in the religious life, does the rationalization fre- 
quently appear. It does absolutely no good to try biblical 
science, church history or dogmatism on persons held by strong 
complexes, who have taken refuge in bizarre forms of religion. 
In a whole series of cases in which young Protestants wished to 
become Catholics, I easily discovered the root of this inner 
necessity and overcame the impulse. Some simple examples, I 
have described elsewhere. I will add a plain case. A cultured 
student, aged nineteen, informed me of his decision to become 
a Catholic, since he had been convinced by Catholics of the 
superiority of their confession. [Did this happen from several 
Catholics or only one?] "From one." [Or perhaps a Catho- 
lic girl?] "That is also true." [I am surprised that a lady 
has exercised so much influence on a man of your education. 
She is probably older than you ? ] " Yes, some years. ' ' [ Then 
I assume that you love the girl and suffer from a conflict with 
your mother.] "That I must also admit." 

It was an easy task to explain to the youth the concept of 



UNCONSCIOUS MOTIVES 827 

the substitute for the mother. Discussing the special religious 
determinants proved to be entirely unnecessary. 

One should not judge such a victim of an illusion scornfully. 
How much imposing dogmatism, what high-sounding philos- 
ophy is exactly the same: a keen sighted subtraction from a 
theory which in reality rests on totally different pillars, namely 
unconscious ones, and with these pillars, it must fall. 

Finally, I refer to a case which is extraordinarily important 
for the educator. We struggle against ambition with beautiful 
exhortation but often accomplish precious little in so doing. 
With people who ruin their careers by disgusting place-hunt- 
ing, one often finds an enormous deficiency-complex (Adler). 
One such unfortunate person who was consumed by ambition, 
said in the analysis that he was the illegitimate son of a dis- 
tinguished man, was constantly goaded by the thought of chas- 
tising the father because he scorned such a wonderful son. 
Another suffered from poverty and legal punishment of the 
parents. Both, however, gave ideal motives for their actions 
in good faith. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE FOUMS OF THE MANIFESTATIONS 

1. Dispositions and ]\Ioods 

I do not intend to describe systematically the whole of the 
creations of complexes. With the aid of the tests conducted 
here, it should not be difficult to detect other phenomena of 
related nature. 

Pedagogically valuable is the psychological understanding 
of the dispositions and moods which, without analytic sub- 
liminal psychology, form a barren enigma. 

One example begun analytically but not completed, we recog- 
nized in Heine's ''Lorelei" (258). 

A gentleman, aged thirty-five, was asked to be cliivalrous to 
a young lady who was visiting. Although he esteemed the 
looks and culture of the girl very highly, he evaded the request 
and behaved anything but gallantly. Scarcely had the guest 
departed than a highly disagreeable mood seized the ungracious 
cavalier, who meanwhile did not think of a connection between 
his disposition and the visit. Finally, exasperated with him- 
self, he asked an analytic physician friend for information. 
Asked for associations to the mood, he recalled a scene from 
his fifth year: He was playing with his little sister in the 
garden and was enjoying himself very much when his elder 
brother came along, took his playmate for himself and left the 
little fellow alone. The young girl was now introduced to him 
by an elder friend, the older one had claims upon her. Our 
patient with the bad mood transferred himself, entirely uncon- 
sciously, upon accepting his commission, to that scene of his 
childhood in which the girl friend was taken from him. He 
would like to be friendly with the young lady but was afraid 
as a burnt child fears the fire. Into consciousness came only 

328 



PSYCHOLOGY OF LOVE 329 

the end-effect of the ill-humor. The overdeterminants I do 
not know. 

A word may be devoted to the foreboding or presentiment.- 
The clever Mme. de Stael saw the connection with the uncon- 
scious when she said : ' ' Quand on est capable de se connaitre, 
on se trompe rarement sur son sort, et les pressentiments ne 
sont le plus souvent qu'un jugement sur soi-meme, qu'on ne 
s'est pas encore tout-a-fait avoue." (Hebbel cites this saying 
in agreement.) * 

2. Love 

It is characteristic of the distressed condition of the tradi- 
tional psychology that it knows as much as nothing of the 
chief forms of love, the prime importance of which must be 
known to it, and the same is true of the origin and conditions 
of change in eroticism. Psychoanalysis here opens for us 
promising paths as has been repeatedly shown. 

From the multitude of types, I may mention only three which 
are important from the moral pedagogic standpoint : the Don 
Juan, the division of eroticism into immoral and ascetic love, 
and those incapable of love. 

(a) the don JUAN 

The Don Juan is far from being in all cases a heartless volup- 
tuary, even though there certainly are morally depraved per- 
sons who get girls into trouble with pleasure and without re- 
morse. In my educational activities, I have repeatedly met 
Don Juans who suffered grievously from their instincts without 
being able to give them up. 

The seventeen year old peasant boy, described on page 126, 
wished to defend himself against his unfaithfulness by severe 
pains but this did not succeed. Perhaps his symptoms had 
also the meaning of a self-punishment. 

The longing for the mother is considered by the majority 
of analysts as the motive for Don Juanism, 

*E. Kuh, Biographic Friedrich Hebbels. Vol. II (1907), p. 127. 



330 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

(b) the polarization of the eroticism into earthly OB 

VULGAR AND HEAVENLY 

Twice, I have met youths who loved with equal fervor girls 
of high moral character and prostitutes. By the former, they 
wished to be saved, the latter, they sought to save, which did 
not at all exclude the possibility of their indulging in dissolute 
practices with them. Only the youth mentioned on page 68 
came into my pastoral care. He had been engaged innumerable 
times but only a single time did he remain captivated, this time 
by a penniless girl who had vaginismus (automatic contraction 
of the vagina) and who was therefore considered by him as a 
constant virgin. With this girl, the young and well-to-do youth 
eloped and married her but kept his preference for prostitutes 
and laid snares for virgins with the same assiduity. As soon 
as it developed that a girl already had a lover, he lost all interest 
in her. Every street-walker, he loved momentarily to the 
point of madness. 

In the virginal love-object, I recognized without trouble a 
substitute for the mother, but on the other hand, allowed myself 
to be misled in tracing the love for prostitutes back to an early 
affair with a girl, whom he asserted, fell to the streets on his 
account. This explanation is incorrect, however. The youth 
knew quite well that the girl had been a prostitute previously. 
On account of my inexperience, I did not succeed in detecting 
Don Juanism in him while I banished an extraordinarily long 
chain of phobias, obsessional acts and hysterical symptoms. 

Freud first opened my eyes — too late for the young man — 
the prostitutes also represent the mother and indeed as sexual 
being.* 

(c) incapacity for lo\^ 

When we discussed deficiency in emotion, the incapacity for 
love was shown and explained (193), Further, the theory of 

* Freud, Beitrage zur Psychologie des Liebeslebens, I, Jahrb. Ill, p. 
394 f. 



FETICHISM 331 

identification and projection gave us the reason for incapacity 
for love (265). 

The life-desires in such persons as are incapable of conjugal 
and philanthropic love can be driven into thousands of chan- 
nels: incest phantasies, perversities, sport, science, reaction- 
formations, pathological phenomena, such as anxiety, melan- 
cholia, world-weariness, physical defects, etc. There are no 
persons with primary incapacity for love. 

Since only a very few cases of the very frequently occurring 
perversities have been presented (analeroticism 201, homo- 
sexuality 203), a very plain case may be added. 

An hysterical young man, aged twenty-three, was hindered 
from loving a girl. A few times in the presence of young ladies 
who impressed him, he had attacks of perspiring but to love, he 
never came. Instead, he had an unbelievably passionate fond- 
ness for ladies' clothes. Not only did he choose his vocation 
according to this tendency but he spent his pocket-money almost 
entirely for fashion journals. A beautiful gown put him into 
ecstasy, while its wearer left him cool. Often he traveled by 
night in a gondola and hallucinated nixies who teasingly 
theatened to put out the lanterns. Their veils were wonderful 
to behold, their bodies did not interest him in the least. 
Whence came this f etichism ? 

When eleven years old, he spent his vacations with relatives 
in the country. The careless peasant people allowed him to 
sleep for four weeks in the same bed with his girl cousin aged 
thirteen or fourteen. Naturally, this led to mutual inspections. 
When twelve years old, he was often shown by comrades in 
school obscene pictures which excited him. In his sixteenth 
year, he heard the minister preach earnestly on the sin of eye- 
lust. The boy frequently phantasied in sleep at that time, 
female figures and had pollutions. Now when the minister dis- 
cussed eye-lust, a terrible anxiety came over the boy, first in the 
form of a feeling of guilt, for he said, if he had not looked at 
the pictures, the pollutions would not have occurred. He 
sublimated religiously and after conversion, passed into pas- 



332 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

sionate adoration of Jesus — God as father, he could not endure, 
like his own father, he wished to know nothing of him — and 
somewhat later into fetichism for clothes. 

The connection between philanthropy and affection toward 
the nearest relatives, thus between love for those nearest and 
love for those farthest away, may be shown very prettily by 
analysis. 

3. Hate 

All hate arises from an inhibition of the life-will, it may be 
from envy, revenge, jealousy or unpleasant identification. 
Love alone is primary.* Here I am speaking of hate only as far 
as it represents a manifestation of latent, unconscious impulses. 

Hate as unhappy love was shown to us by the boy who awoke 
his brother every morning by sticking his finger in the brother 's 
mouth (159). This common case, fortunately usually built 
on nobler desires, affords the analysis the best chance for suc- 
cess. The wrangling between brothers and sisters is frequently 
a healthy effect of the incest barrier and deserves to be pre- 
ferred to an unfortunately frequent concord, behind which a 
pernicious fixation lurks. Of course, the wrangling should be 
and can be replaced, by tactful analytic education, by more ra- 
tional guidance of instinct. 

The hate arose from unconscious identification in a girl of 
sixteen, about to be confirmed, who told me that she hated her 
neighbor although the latter was a good girl and certainly did 
not deserve her antipathy. Asked to associate to this girl, the 
patient remembered that the girl had a bad opinion of her 
teacher while outwardly she accepted his friendship. Further, 
the neighbor had a habit of moving her mouth in a manner 

* Inversely Stekel considers hatred as the primary thing and basis 
of all mental phenomena, even the altruistic impulses (Sprache des 
Traumes, p. 536). I consider this conception as erroneous. As sup- 
port for his hypothesis, he adds that among criminals and anarchists, 
there are so many illegitimate children; "these apostles of hate have 
not been through the school of love in their youth." But have these 
not perhaps first learned hate as a result of their loveless education? 
Stekel remarks further that hate often makes its appearance in chil- 
dren. But has not love appeared still earlier? 



ASSOCIATION-EXPERIMENT 335 

which reminded of kissing. Further associations revealed that 
the patient acted toward the teacher exactly like the hated one : 
she flattered him and ridiculed him. Also, in former years, she 
had had a tic of the mouth like her comrade and kisses are dis- 
tasteful to her. Thus she hates in the other only unpleasant 
traits of her own person.* 

Sadism also often has a share. Tasso remarks to the point : 
* ' Nothing can take from me the pleasure of thinking worse and 
worse of him (the enemy)." t How cleverly hate knows how 
to adapt to itself all material which is heard and seen and revel 
in murderous phantasies without incriminating itself, was 
shown in my article: "Analytic Investigations on the Psy- 
chology of Hate and Reconciliation. ' ' $ 

4. The Association-Experiment and the ** Phenomena 
OF Reproduction" 

(a) definition of the association-experiment 

An essential contribution was made to the psychoanalytic 
investigation by Jung's association studies. || I will devote a 
few pages to discussing and testing these results. Psychology 
usually calls the experiment which Jung with the earlier psy- 
chology denominates "association-experiment," by the term 
"reproduction-experiment." This harmonizes with the 
thought that if one calls a word to the subject of the experiment, 
an idea will be brought to consciousness in the latter, which 
idea was once before joined to the idea denoted by the word 
given. "The mind does not take up much from the material 
temporarily pressing in upon it ; but that which gets through 
by favor of the circumstances, the mind spins out and inter- 
weaves with its own past.^ That is to say, the mental pictures 
appearing in consciousness, themselves occasion this completion 

* I described an analogous example in my article : "Kryptographie, 
Kryptolalie u. imbed. Vexierbild bei Normalen." Jahrb. V, p. 134 f. 

t Goethe, Tasso, IV, p. 2. 

$ Jahrb. II, also separately from Deuticke, Vienna, 1910. 

]| Diagnostisehe Assoziationsstudien, Leipzig, Earth, Vol. I, 1906, 
Vol. II, 1910. 

H Compare p. 230 f ., the theory of the regression. 



654 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

by the past and therein comes about the effect which they un- 
fold. " * It is noticed further that ideas and thoughts which 
are not the same as those entertained previously but only re- 
semble these, may arouse mental pictures which were formerly 
joined to these similar ones,t only at that time they were 
clearer and more diversified.$ As the only constant basis for 
the process, one assumes "a capability or disposition of the 
nervous elements to be aroused later, always easier in the 
same groupings in which they have previously been arranged, 
and to radiate their excitations reciprocally when these are 
once aroused from the periphery by a part of the functional 
complex belonging to them." || Under association, one un- 
derstands with Offner the ''disposition to further conduction 
of psycho-physical excitation from one group of ideas to 
another group of ideas." || 

Wundt, on the other hand, uses the term association to cover 
successive associated memories, § though he emphasizes that 
real associative processes can never consist in an addition of 
elements.** He lays great stress on "simultaneous associa- 
tions," for example, the blending of sensations, in which one 
element gains the mastery over the others (e. g. the funda- 
mental tone over the over-tone). ft Thus there exists in the 
association a creative agency. 

In the analytic experiments established by Jung, we are 
dealing with the gaining of a new idea by the giving of a pre- 
ceding idea, of a " reaction- word " by a " stimulus-word. ' ' We 
shall see, however, that of mere ' ' reproductions ' ' there are none, 
since between the two words, an unconscious thought process 
may lie which leads by a really productive operation creating 
new psychic values, to a new idea. J J On this point, as we shall 

* Ebbinhaus-Diirr, Grundz. d. Psychol. I, p. 634. 

t P. 635. 

$P. 636. 

II P. 712. 

H Offner, D. Gedachtnis, p. 21. 

§ Wundt, Grundz. d. phys. Psych. Ill, p. 544. 

**P. 522. 

tfP. 527. 

tt This subliminal ne\y-creation, the "disposition-psychology" over- 



ASSOCIATION-EXPERIMENT 335 

see, Wundt would be correct, except that he drew much too 
narrow bounds for this creative activity. 

(b) the schematic association-experiment 

It would take us too far afield to derive inductively the 
association-experiment cleverly developed by Jung. We shall 
limit ourselves to the most important results. 

The method consists in instructing the subject of the experi- 
ment to respond to the word which is called out to him with the 
first word that comes to his mind, and to do this as quickly as 
possible and entirely without consideration of the content of the 
word. The time elapsing between the calling of the word by 
the analyst and the reply by the subject (reaction-time) is ac- 
curately measured by a stop-watch in fifths of seconds, the re- 
action-word written down as quickly as possible and the next 
word in the list given. When one has gone through the whole 
list of words prepared beforehand, say one himdred words, he 
then immediately starts at the beginning again with the com- 
mand to give the same reaction-word as before. If this is done 
successfully, one speaks of successful reproductions, otherwise 
of false reproductions. 

Not always, by far, is a conscious or unconscious complex 
stirred by the stimulus word. From thousands of reactions, 
certain symptoms for the manifestation-significance of a suc- 
ceeding association were found. I shall attempt to arrange 
these systematically. 

System of Complex Indicators. 

A. External stigmata. 

1. Conversion (physical manifestation) ; hesitation, stutter- 
ing, expressive movement before or after the reaction, twitch- 
looks. It conceives the unconscious as potential energy to whicli a 
psychic correlation may be coordinated. But the tremendous change be 
tween repression and manifestation, this often grandiose, creative, 
poetic transformation, proves that very much kinetic energy has been 
exerted, consistently with which, an imconseious thought- and will- 
process, succeeding to new values, is coordinated. 



336 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ing, secretion of tears, sighing, psychogalvanic phenomena, 
changes in the pulse, etc. 

2. Immediate correction of the reaction or its beginning 
(mistakes in speech). 

3. Prolonged reaction-time. We speak of this when the 
' 'probable reaction-time ' ' is exceeded. One gains the latter not 
by means of arithmetic but by the following method : The re- 
action-times are arranged in a series according to their value. 
The average of these numbers is called the probable reaction- 
time. The arithmetical mean is worthless because reactions are 
often absent altogether, though one waits twenty, fifty or one 
hundred seconds. Jung does not wait more than twenty sec- 
onds; I have repeatedly obtained valuable associations, how- 
ever, after a longer period. 

B. Characteristics according to Content. 

(a) Previous to the reaction: False understanding of the 
stimulus-word. Herein applies the rule : The complex seeks 
to interpret everything heard in the sense of its gratification. 

(^) During the reaction : 

1. Diversions: (a') To an object of the surroundings, e. g. 

inkwell, window. 
(b') Translation into foreign tongue. 

2. Superficial reactions : 

(a) Repetition of the stimulus-word or previous reactions. 

(b') Insignificant change of the stimulus- word, e. g. sick- 
sickly. 

(c') Slang associations, e. g. puns. 

(d') Banal definitions (Imbeciles present enormous num- 
bers of definitions) .* 

(e') Stilted reactions (pompous expressions). 

(y) After the reaction : 

(a') Perseverations: An idea may act so strongly on the 
subject that the content of the next following stimulus-word is 
not noticed and the reaction is joined to the previous stimulus- 
word. The perseveration can persist for two or three stimulus- 

* K. Wehrlin, tj. die Assoz. v. Imbezillen u. Idioten. 2d Beitr. d 
diagnost. Ass.-Studien. 



ASSOCIATION-EXPERIMENT 337 

words. Often, one reaction follows quickly but the idea still 
rules the following associations. 

(b') Disturbances of reproduction: The subject can no 
longer give his earlier reaction or unwittingly gives another. 

It is very easy to perceive that exactly the same complex- 
indicators may also appear in ordinary speech. Even the op- 
ponents of psychoanalysis, like Isserlin, must admit this in 
essentials so far as they recognize it.* It is not well to analyze 
all reactions. It is sufficient to test those that are most strongly 
stigmatized. I will select some tests which will bring the poetic 
production of the unconscious plainly to expression. 

Stimulus- word : long. Reaction : long street. Time : 7.6 sec. 
Association : * ' I saw a picture which represented a long street 
converging in perspective. On both sides, stood houses. Poor 
peasant people who were going along in a wagon thought they 
could not get by that narrow end of the street. * Love as long 
as you can.' Thus sang a mother by the cradle of her boy. 
The mother died, the son sang it ever after. The song made an 
impression on me although it is sentimental." As the pupil 
produced no further associations for a long time, I unwisely 
put the direct question: Are you thinking of your mother? 
Answer : ' ' No, ' ' Following stimulus-word : Boat. Reaction : 
Port. Time 4.2 seconds. Association: ''Sagt Mutter, 's ist 
Uve!" (0. Ernst). "I have often thought it would be beau- 
tiful if I stood by my mother as others do by theirs. But it 
cannot be. At my house, no one says a kind word to another. ' ' 

It is plain that the boy, although he did not perceive it, was 
referring to his position to his mother in the two melancholy 
songs. I might have brought this out psychoanalytically with- 
out the following reaction and could have shown that "no" of 
the overconsciousness included a deception. 

The association of the picture, I understood at once. In 
order not to disturb the analysis, however, I kept silent and 
seven days later, again gave the stimulus-word. The reaction 
was the same. "What is probably lurking behind the pic- 
ture ? ' ' Answer : " I do not know and cannot think. " " De- 

* Isserlin, p. 338. 



338 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

scribe the peasant." " He is rather simple but true and noble, 
perhaps also somewhat stubborn. He has a crafty facial ex- 
pression. He holds the bridle in his hands. The whip, he has 
stuck beside him. ' ' I repeated : ' ' Rather simple, true and 
noble, somewhat stubborn, crafty, bridle in hands. Now ? ' ' — 
The youth, greatly astonished: "That may perhaps be I!" 
Then he realized at once that the street end was the narrow gate 
of conversion, of which I had spoken to him before. He 
thought he could not pass this gate ; the association draws the 
fear into the laughable (simple peasant) . The whip has sexual 
symbolical meaning. The boy struggled desperately against 
onanism. Now the ugly masturbation phantasy is interpreted 
according to the law of complex-recasting into the opposite 
sense : The hand holds the whip in order to direct. 

[To plow.] "Scarcely" (kaum). Time : 13.2 seconds. 

"I thought at the same time of sharp (kiihn). [Scarcely.] 
' ' Scarcely has one plowed than comes the seed,. Perhaps thus 
with me, so that I would not detect the result of my bad habit. 
To "keen" there occurs to mind a picture by Albrecht Diirer : 
"Knight, Death and Devil." The knight is not particularly 
keen, he presents a quiet, half -scornful smile. Thus one gets on 
best. I am ashamed in front of the picture because of my sin. 
To the word, "plow," immediately occurred to me also the 
place M. (a region about three kilometers from his residence). 
Recently, I met some young girls and went as far as M. with 
them in the hope of getting up an acquaintance. I did not suc- 
ceed however. To 'plow,' to 'dig' comes into my mind: it 
means : digging after something. ' ' 

Let us seek the explanation. The enormous reaction-time 
betrays strong resistance. The stimulus-word, plow, is under- 
stood in a double sense : First as preparation for sowing ; to 
this is joined the reaction "scarcely," which expresses the hope 
for quick reward for giving up onanism. The pupil seeks a 
compensation for the pleasure given up. Of what this reward 
shall consist, the other associations show: plow-dig, to seek 
something. For what does one dig? Naturally for a "trea- 
sure" and that the young fellow also seeks such an one, of 



ASSOCIATION-EXPERIMENT 339 

course in transposed sense, is shown by the reaction "sharp," 
as allusion to a little adventure which an acquaintance with 
girls would bring about. The word "sharp" refers, however, 
not only to the boldness shown therein but also as the reference 
to Diirer's knight shows, to the wished-for boldness in the 
struggle with the vice. 

The word "plow" would thereby be understood without 
doubt sexually symbolically, as is well known in folk-lore which 
is accustomed to use plowing as symbolizing the sexual act. 
The badly educated boy of doubtful morals wishes to change 
from autoeroticism to normal intercourse and this as soon as 
possible. 

In this conception, we see the three simultaneous, mutually 
dependent associations, "scarcely," "sharp," "M., " ex- 
plained. The third stimulus-word following was : 

[Table.] "Flower." Time 24.8 seconds. " I looked to the 
side and perhaps imagined a flower table." [It really stands 
there.] "The 'scarcely' from before started up again. Then 
I saw almost as if written, the word 'nose.' I really liked to 
pick my nose and found great pleasure in so doing, further, I 
enjoyed polishing my dirty finger-nails and derived a feeling of 
great pleasure from the process. I registered these too among 
my bad habits in my diary but it did not help, I always suc- 
cumbed again. Then I let it stand." [Once more: table- 
flower.] "I keep thinking only of the 'scarcely.' " [Thus a 
girl affair again? Does "flower" stand for girl?] "I have 
already thought that. ' ' 

The interpretation is not at all artificial. The flower-table 
beside the boy awakened the association of ' ' flower " to " table, ' ' 
which expression immediately received strong affective empha- 
sis because it was perceived in the vulgar speech usage as terra 
for a girl. At once, the previous girl phantasy was continued : 
"scarcely" and "picking, digging" again emerged, this time 
the latter word plainly in new sexual symbolic meaning. The 
picking of the nose corresponds to the earlier plowing. It is a 
dirty and yet in a certain sense, hygienically commendable, and 
allowable act. The finger has here the same meaning as in 



34<0 



THE PSYCHOANALYTIC IVmTHOD 



nail-polishing and previously given cases (finger under nose, 
78, anxiety on stretching a glove finger, 160, compare the 
anesthetic toe, 176). 

One sees plainly that in the moment of uttering the reactions, 
an important, newly fashioned work, of which consciousness 
knows nothing, has been performed. 

The scheme carefully worked out by Jung shows the follow- 
ing stimulus words : 



1. head . 


29. lamp 


57. pencil 


2. green 


30. rich 


58. sad 


3. water 


31. tree 


59. plum 


4. stick' . 


32. sing 


60. meet 


5. angel 


33. pity 


61. law 


6. long 


34. yellow 


62. love 


7. boat 


35. mountain 


63. glass 


8. plow 


36. play 


64. fight 


9. wool 


37. salt 


65. traits 


10. friendly 


38. new 


66. great 


11. table 


39. custom 


67. potato 


12. ask 


40. ride 


68. paint 


13. state 


41. wall 


69. part 


14. defiant 


42. stupid 


70. old 


15. stalk 


43. handle 


71. flower 


16. dance 


44. despise 


72. strike 


17. sea 


45. tooth 


73. chest 


18. sick 


46. right 


74. savage 


19. pride 


47. folk 


75. family 


20. cook 


48. stink 


76. wash 


21. iijk 


49. book 


77. cow 


22. bad 


50. unjust 


78. strange 


23. needle 


51. frog 


79. luck 


24. swdm 


52. divide 


80. tell 


25. journey 


53. hunger 


81. decorum 


26. blue 


54. white 


82. narrow 


27. bread 


55. ox 


83. brother 


28. threaten 


56. attend 


84. injury 



WORD-ASSOCIATION TEST 341 

85. stork 91. door 97. month 

86. false 92. choose 98. colored 

87. decorum 93. hay 99. dog 

88. kiss 94. steep 100. speak 

89. fire 95. derision 

90. dirty 96. sleep 

Even without analysis, one can draw important conclusions 
from the associations. For instance, if a person prefers in 
high degree adjectives of value, then she discloses that she has 
much free floating life-force, thus that she is badly situated in 
relation to life and love. Emma Fiirst found in an extensive 
material that in women over forty-one, this "value predicate 
type" predominates, while of the men, only those past sixty- 
one go over to this subjective type. Betraying are the reac- 
tions to the scattered group of four words: "water," "boat," 
"sea, ' ' "swim. ' ' If all four are strongly marked, one can con- 
clude with probability upon suicidal intentions. The girl men- 
tioned on page 179, who had denied such an intention, con- 
fessed when she saw how she betrayed herself that as a fact she 
had attempted suicide in her bath a week before. In general, 
liars are often discovered by the association-experiment. He 
who suppresses a word, betrays the fact by long reaction-time 
or other complex-indicators. Jung even unmasked a criminal 
by his method.* 

A number of similar results may be derived by careful 
elaboration of the reactions. The skilled person may gain from 
them a summary diagnosis of his patient or normal subject of 
analysis, t For psychoanalysis, the method may be dispensed 
with and is to-day no longer much used in spite of the ease of 
its application, except where a quick diagnosis is wanted or 
where theoretical conclusions are sought. One critic expresses 
doubt, obviously without having made any experiments, on 
the diagnostic reliability of the reactions; I would strongly 
ad\'ise him not to trust his own associations to publication. He 

* Jung, Z. psycholog. Tatbestandsdiagnostik. Zbl. f. Nervenheilkxmde 
u. Psychiatrie, 1905, No. 200. 
t Freud, tJber Psa., p. 32. 



342 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

might reveal some very unpleasant experiences like some other 
doubters. 

Important for pedagogues are the investigations of the pre- 
viously mentioned physician (Emma Fiirst) on the family re- 
semblance in reaction type.* The basis is Jung's scheme of 
classification which in turn rests on the excellent works of 
Kraepelin and Aschaffenburg. The reactions were differen- 
tiated according to fifteen relations : Co-ordination, sub- and 
super-ordination, contrast-association, personal judgment, 
other predicates, subjective relation, objective relation, de- 
termination by time, place, means, etc., definition, coexistence, 
identity, motor-speech, union, word assimilation, complimen- 
tary words, slang associations, other groups (false, senseless, 
misdiate association).! 

One computes now how large a percentage of reactions fall 
into each group. If one wishes to compare the relation be- 
tween reactions between two members of a family arithmeti- 
cally, he computes the difference of the two percentages in each 
of the two groups, adds the sums of these differences and di- 
vides by fifteen. Then one knows how much the average or as 
it is usually expressed, "the mean difference" is. 

The principal results in nine families containing thirty-seven 
members, persons of little culture, investigated, ranging in age 
from nine to seventy-four years, were as follows : 

All children under sixteen years, had more internal associa- 
tions than the mother, all children over sixteen (with one ex- 
ception) more external. 

The mean difference among related men was 4 :1, that among 
related women, 3 :8. Among persons not related, the differ- 
ence is considerably higher. Relatives, therefore, possess, a 
tendency to agreement in reaction-type,$ and this agreement 
between mother and children (3:5) is greater than between 
father and children (4:2). Still, the reaction relationship be- 
tween fathers and sons (3 :1) is almost as great as that between 

* Emma Fiirst, 10th Beitr. d. diagn. Ass.-Studien, 
t Same, p. 80. 
i Same, p. 110. 



FREE ASSOCIATIONS 343 

motliers and daughters (3 :0). The mean difference of fathers 
and daughters was 4 :9, of mothers and daughters was 4 :7. It 
follows therefore: "The best and most uniform agreement 
occurs between parents and their children of the same sex." * 

(C) THE FREE ASSOCIATION CHAINS 

Freud allowed apparently meaningless series of words to 
be formed and gained by aid of these series, glimpses of re- 
pressed mental content.! Jung too made use of the method % 
and Stekel applied it with success. 1| 

I give a short example from a previously published work ^ : 
[Water.] Corpse. 4 Seconds. Boat, a drunken man. I 
looked on as a drunken man was drawn into a boat. 
[Name all the words which come into your mind now.] 
Bathing, swimming, bathing-establishment, bathing-attendant, 
ground, sea-weed, shark, earth, stone, spring-board, air, chain, 
beam, submarine boat, crew, no air, drowned, diver, diving- 
bell, gold, rope-ladder. [What comes into your mind now?] 
In the moving-picture theatre, I saw two divers who found gold. 
One cut the air-tube of the other, took the gold and ascended. 

[Bathing.] Because my brother bathes much. I also like 
very much to bathe. 

[Swimming.] My brother asserts that he has dived from 
the spring-board almost to the bottom. This made a deep im- 
pression on me. It rained a lot. I dove to the bottom once in 
a less deep place. Drowning comes to mind. I saw in a mov- 
ing-picture theatre how one drowns. 

[Sea-weed.] One may get caught in it. This happened to 
me once. 

[Earth.] The bottom of the water. Gloomy, black. The 
tomb in Busento. (Four days later) : therein is someone on a 
horse, large, robust, pale. It is my brother. 

* Same, p. 111. 

t Freud, Hysterie, p. 241. 

t Jung, u. d. Psychol, d. Dem. prsecox, p. 130. 

II Stekel, Nervose Angstzustande, p. 67. 

i Pfister, Analyt. Unters. ii. d. Psychol, des Hasses u. d. Versohnung, 
p. 7f. 



344 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

[Chain.] Outside at the bathing establishment by the keg. 
Arno once went there into the depths and remained some ten 
meters under the surface of the water hanging by one linger. 
He said then he didn't care much for life and liked to do 
dangerous things as coasting on a bicycle. 

[Submarine boat.] I saw in a picture how the crew of such 
a boat suffocated. (Four days later) : [Do you know anyone 
large, robust, pale?] It is again my brother, Arno. 

[Diver.] The drowning diver in the moving-picture theatre. 
One sees the pale face through the glass. The man was large 
and dark. "We received from a panopticon, a life-size wax 
mask which represented a dying king. The eyes were pointed 
upwards. Arno put this head on his shoulders once and draped 
a cloth around him. Then he looked like a ghost. I was 
greatly frightened. The dying diver reminded me of that 
wax model. (One sees clearly the work of the repression: the 
subject means the one who lurks in the wax mask, Arno, but 
does not allow this idea to come through.) [The murderer.] 
He was a smaller man. His face was not visible. He was 
greatly afraid of solitude and because he had killed the other. 

[Make a series.] Pity, punishment, captain, search for the 
murderer, electric chair, the past, heaven, hell, last judgment, 
God, Abraham, Lazarus, the rich man, abyss, water, brothers, 
Lazarus at the foot-stool of God, the prayer of the rich man, the 
man who wished a palace in heaven, on whom Peter had pity, 
the man on tip-toe who looked through the knot-hole, the King- 
dom of God. (Four days later) : The murderer is small, 
agile, short-armed, half -sick, greedy, brutal. [Who is it?] 
Yes, I. I noticed that four days ago but thought it had no 
value. I am not brutal in ordinary life? [No, but you are 
what is so well termed two-faced. You harbor evil ^vishes and 
would carry them out. That has not completely succeeded. 
Hence your malice, your dark tendency to evil.] 

The detailed analysis would take us too far. Here is the 
result : The murderer. Max, is executed in the electric chair, 
consoles himself nevertheless with the hope that he might not, 
like the rich man in the parable of Jesus ', suffer eternal torment 



ACCIDENTAL ASSOCIATIONS 



345 



in hell but will, like the rich man in the beautiful tale of Volk- 
mann-Leanders, receive in hell a splendid castle full of gold, 
standing on tip-toe, one may see heaven through a knot-hole and 
finally be saved. In the man on tip-toes, the subject recog- 
nizes himself. 

It is worthy of note that the boy while giving his words, had 
no suspicion that behind these words, murder phantasies 
against his brother were hidden. And yet it may be shown 
with certainty from the members of the chain of associations not 
reproduced here that they were present. Behind the two series 
of associations which were narrated in a few minutes, there 
existed phantasies which wished death upon the brother in six- 
teen ways, upon himself in three ways, upon other persons in 
six ways, besides a mass of other accidents and active crimes. 

The value of such chains lies in the fact that the unconscious 
is outwitted. The painful thought can find expression in the 
disguise. The analysis seizes the criminal and unmasks him. 

These chains are also always applied during the dream 
analysis as the free phantastic continuation of the dream and 
manifestations. 

5. Accidental Associations 

When an idea clings to us tenaciously even against our will, 
we are not wrong in the assumption that we are dealing with a 
manifestation. 

(a) Word association. 

An example of a word obsession was given on page 41 
("Pentakosiomedimnen") . 

(|S) Obsessing melody. 

Jung has discovered that the melodies which haunt us are to 
be explained in the same manner.* Another example may be 
added : 

A young analyst was long haunted by the melody : 



Jung, Dem. prsec, p. 62 f. 



346 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Finally he submitted to autoanalysis and found it was the 
melody of Beethoven to Goethe 's verse : ' ' ]\Iit Mannern sich 
geschlagen" (Fought with men). Then he remembered that 
he had fought an unpleasant duel with an opponent. "Work 
pressed, a period of quiescence ensued. Then there began to 
run through his head : 

Sit 



3rp qir=g=ti(a: rEJ=^,=£^ 



^ 



In vexation, he asked himself what was the matter now and 
wished to dislodge the disturber of the peace by denial and 
concentration. He had to analyze again. Then it was re- 
vealed: The melody was in the student song-book and be- 
longed to the preceding text and ran: "With men have 
fought, with maidens got on well." Then it occurred to him 
that he had a conflict with his wife in which he yielded against 
his conviction, which he regretted immediately afterwards. 
For this, the song consoled further : ' ' And more credit than 
money" — correct, this also occurred to the autoanalyst in a 
moment — "thus one goes through the world." 

Thus the two melodies suited the situation nicely and con- 
tained excellent consolation for his repressed ideas. The song 
of Beethoven's begins: "Mit Madels sich vertragen" (With 
maidens got on well). The error shows the influence of the 
repression. 

(y) Association of numbers. 

(Analyses of associations of numbers and dreams of numbers 
occur as follows: Freud, Zur Psychopathologie des Alltags- 
lebens, 109 fP. ; Adler, Drei Psycho- Analysen von Zahlenein- 
fallen und obsedierenden Zahlen, Psych-neur, Wochenschr., 
1905, No. 28; Jung, Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis des Zahlen- 
traumes, Zentralblatt I, 567-572; Stekel, Die Sprache des 
Traumes, 410, 430; Marcinowsky, Drei Romane in Zahlen, 
Zentralblatt II, 619-638.) 

Since I had plenty of dreams of numbers for this book but no 



ANALYSIS OF NUMBER ASSOCIATIONS 347 

associations of numbers to use, I asked a mercliant of middle 
age to give me a little number analysis. He assented and 
named the number 24. 

[24.] *'Love, lip. 2X4. 4 X 4= 16. As a boy, I eele^ 
brated my birthday on Oct. 24 instead of 23. Upon admission 
to the technical school the birth certificate gave it as 23. The 
teacher registrar entered this date, against which I protested. 
Smiling, he noted down therefore Oct. 23/24. To-day, I feel 
as if new-born for I have received glad tidings from my dear 
girl. On my birthday I receive much love and many kisses. 
Love and lips belong together. 

2X4=8, 4X4= 16 making together the number 24. 8 
means "esteem," 4X4 = 16, "double esteem," 24 "triple 
esteem." My fiancee shall for the time know nothing of the 
fact that I love another more than her. I discovered a short 
time ago that I carelessly left a tell-tale slip of paper sticking 
in the pocket of my great-coat. 

[2X4 = 8.] Twice a four-in-hand team. Puss-in-Boots 
came in a four-horse wedding coach. I took part in the wed- 
ding of a friend whose bride was pretty but she is a bad, un- 
affectionate wife. I fear that it will be the same with my 
fiancee who already treats me coldly and imperiously. I wish 
for myself a second more pleasant wedding coach. 

4 might be a 4-leaved clover leaf. At first, I was happy with 
my fiancee, now I long for better luck. 

[4X4.] I dreamed of four boats, in one of which I went 
away. The name of this boat agreed with that of my present 
love. 

"4" (vier) sounds like "Fiiiir" = Feuer (fire). 2X4 
means double fire, double love. The folk song is not right in 
its assertion, love blooms but once in a life-time (compare two 
wedding coaches). 

24 = 4, fire, and 20. My friend wrote when 20 that she had 
to suffer much from burning desire and asked herself if Ellen 
Key were not right in her contention for free love. This dis- 
quieted me but on the other hand, the natural sensuality pleased 



g48 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

me which, differed pleasantly from the cold prudery of my 
fiancee. 

[24.] The girl will be exactly 24 years old when I can 
marry her. Then her extravagant ideas of free love and exag- 
gerated sensual demands will disappear spontaneously. When 
she is 24 years old, I will be born into a new life, then will be 
my birthday ! ' ' 

Since this mathematics is unfamiliar to us, I offer for con- 
sideration a number dream. 

''. . . I hastened to the station in order to travel to Genf. 
Then it came into my mind that I had too little money in my 
purse. I consoled myself, however, that there might still be a 
gold piece there. The ticket cost eighteen francs, leaving me 
six francs over." [Genf.] "Some weeks before, I visited 
several acquaintances there. At a later day, I discovered to my 
vexation that a charming girl whom I knew, had stayed there 
without my knowing it." [18 francs, 6 left over.] (Imme- 
diately.) "18 X 6 = 108, 18 must be the beginning of a count 
of centuries, I do not know how though. (Pause.) Ah, so! 
It might be the number of the year in which we went, 1800 -j- 
108 = 1908. When I named the year 1908, 1 did not yet know 
how it was related to the preceding numbers." [1908.] 
"When I was vexed because of the visit which I had missed, I 
consoled myself with the thought that I could go to Genf again 
soon. The dream confirmed: yes, in this very year!" [Do 
you know what the ticket to Genf costs ?] "No. I think about 
16 francs." (We looked up the amount and found to our 
astonishment, 18 francs, 65 rappen.) 

"Now something else occurs to me. Yesterday before the 
dream, I told a mathematician that I had entirely forgotten all 
mathematics. The dream will plainly console me. ' ' 

We will concede that the operation with 18 and 6 as multipli- 
cation and addition was carried out right cleverly. 

The computation is not quite correct : It lacked 5 rappen. 

Since mathematics in a dream may still seem strange, al-* 
though it agrees most exactly with the dream logic, another 
example may be added. An acquaintance learned from his 



DREAM AND HALLUCINATION 549 

wife that he had called out in his sleep : ' ' 6 X 6 = 36, Sehles- 
wig-Holstein, meerumschlungen, meerumschlungen. " He did 
not think any more about the dream. The analysis taught him : 
''Because 'meerumschlungen' (surrounded by the sea) was 
called out twice, there must be a duplication in the preceding 
material. (Who outside the dreamer would have arrived at 
this conclusion?) The halves of 36 are 18. Right! 18 
placed before 2-6s gives 1866. Of this date, I spoke with my 
wife before the dream night. At that time, Schleswig-Hol- 
stein came to Prussia. I defended the Prussians, mj'- wife the 
Danes. I stopped in order to avoid strife. ' ' The deeper mean- 
ing of the dream cannot be given here. 

In the many number dreams which I have investigated, the 
associations have constantly yielded the same mathematics of 
the unconscious. 

6. Dream, Hallucination and "Waking-dream 
(a) estimation of the dream 

According to Freud, dream interpretation is the via regia 
to a knowledge of the unconscious.* Psychoanalysis is founded 
on dream interpretation.! So much the more do I regret that 
I cannot present here the whole dream investigation in all its 
refinements. For this purpose, a whole book would be needed ; 
such a book, we possess in Freud's masterpiece. 

The estimation of the dream in present day psychology is a 
most varied one. One experimental psychologist explains it 
most recently in his lectures as a negligible quantity from which 
no kind of conclusions regarding the mental activity of a per- 
son can be drawn and with which one would better not deal at 
all. 

Such an opinion is in conflict with the everyday experience of 
healthy human reason, of poets and of those psychologists who 
consider more than that part of the mental life fathomable by 
physical instruments and expressable in mathematical formulas 
as worthy of notice. 

* Freud, tjber Psa., p. 32. 

t Freud, A note on the unconsctous in Psycho- Analysis, p. 317. 



350 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Even the Bible relates of dream interpretations which every 
pedagogue without more ado must recognize as psychologically 
correct. Joseph dreamed that the sheaves of his brothers 
bowed down before his and the brothers reproached him: 
"Will you become king over us and rule over us?" The am- 
bitious youth saw in sleep the sun, moon and eleven stars bow 
before him and had to receive his father 's rebuke : ' ' Shall I and 
thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down our- 
selves before thee to the earth?" (Gen. xxxvii, 10). Every- 
one will admit that the narrator wishes to show the ambition of 
the boy by the report of his dreams and does he do this without 
psychological justification? When a boy dreams before 
Christmas of a cannon as high as a table jumping about his 
room, the educator will assume, unless he accidentally belongs 
to that skeptical experimental psychology, that the child would 
like to possess such an object. And when — this example also 
springs from reality — a boy who in jumping over a brook has 
broken his leg and can only tediously limp, joyfully jumps 
around in his dream, the pedagogue reaches the conclusion 
without scruples that the dream realizes a longed-for wish. 
Because a symbol is present in Joseph 's dream, is the interpre- 
tation of his brothers and father so artificial ? 

Indeed the most important ideas in Freud's dream theory 
exist in outline in the Bible without his having known it. This 
happens in the interesting places, Dan. v, 25-28. The seer 
interprets the secret writing to Belshazzar : * ' Mene, tekel, up- 
harsin." Verses 26 and following say: "The interpretation 
is this: — Mene: 'God hath numbered thy kingdom and 
finished it ; tekel : Thou art weighed in the balances and art 
found wanting ; upharsin : Thy kingdom is divided and given 
to the Medes and Persians.' " Mene means also "mine" a 
money term, tekel ( = shekel) is about 1/50 mine, peres, a 
half -mine, singular of the plural form, p(h)arsin, Persian. 
The stem means ' ' to divide. ' ' One sees in these terms a refer- 
ence to the powerful Babylonian kingdom (mine), the deficient 
Median rule (shekel) which at the time of the dream lay in 
Belshazzar 's hands, and refers to the Persian power appearing 



DREAMS IN THE BIBLE 351 

again raore strongly but not attaining tlie Babylonian splendor. 
At all events, Daniel puts a deeper meaning under the money 
terms, he considers them as overdeterjnined and symbolical. 
The meaning which the Jewish seer derives from the secret 
writing (cryptography) contains also a thought most suitable 
to the Jewish wish-phantasy : the miserable Median rule shall 
be broken but not by a new world power resembling the Baby- 
lonian. Beyond this meaning, there is the double significance 
"Persians-divided," an allusion to the incapacity for life of 
the future heathen power. 

Therewith, the author of the apocalyptical writings may have 
known something of the fundamental idea that behind the 
dream-content — here we are dealing with a cryptogram but 
the mechanism is the same — there lurks a quite different 
(latent) thought. He recognized the condensation, the plural 
meaning of the dream idea, the wishfulfillment in the mani- 
festation. 

Still more important is the passage, Daniel v, 12, where it 
is said of Daniel: ''Interpreting of dreams, and shewing of 
hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the 
same Daniel. ' ' Is not the expression ' ' analysis ' ' there antici- 
pated in the plainest and most striking manner ? 

I would like to quote the sayings of some poets, for they, 
according to the confirmative judgment of psychologists, know 
not a little of the mind. 

Richard "Wagner puts these words in the mouth of Hans 
Sachs : 

"Just that is the poet's work 
That he may note and interpret dreams; 
Believe me, man's truest vision 
Is given him in dream. 
All poetic art and poetry- 
Is nothing else than true interpretation of dreams." * 

Johann Peter Uz (1720-96) rhymes: 

"Every one is like his dreams, 
In dream carouses Anacreon, 

* Richard Wagner, Meistersinger. Reported by Robitsek, Die Analyse 
in Egmonts Traimi. Jahrb. II, p. 464, 



352 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

A poet exults in his rhymes 

And flits across the Helicon. 

For you, monad, fight with conclusions, 

A lover of ontology; 

And every maiden dreams of kisses 

For what is more important for her ?" * 

Tolstoi has his hero, in whom he probably depicts himself, 
testify: *'When I awake, I can well be deceived concerning 
myself, the dream on the other hand, gives me the correct 
measure for the stage of moral perfection which I have at- 
tained." t 

Hebbel says in his distich '*Der Traum als Prophet" : 

"What shall befall you, how can the dream tell you ? 
What you will do, that it shows you already." 

The poet has his Judith narrate a dream and add: "I 
know that one should not despise such dreams. See, I think 
like this: When a man lies asleep, set free, no longer held 
together by consciousness of himself, then a feeling of the 
future represses all thoughts and pictures of the present and 
the things which shall come, flit as shadows through the mind, 
preparing, warning, consoling. Hence it comes about that 
anything true so seldom or never surprises us, that we long 
before confidently expected the good and involuntarily tremble 
before every evil." J If this sounds .somewhat unscientific, 
the diary explains: "Our suspicions, beliefs, presentiments, 
etc., we have until now brought into use only as proof of the 
existence of a world existing outside of us, still incomprehensi- 
ble to us in it^ reality ; to me they are more, they are to me like 
the pulse beats of a world still slumbering and locked within 
us." II 

That the poets know the meaning and psychological struc- 
ture of the dream and attribute to it a great importance, is a 
fact familiar to every analyst. 

*Zbl. II, p. 292. 

t Zbl. II, p. 615, reported by Mira Gincburg. 

t Hebbel, Judith, Act III. 

II Hebbel, Tagebucher, Berlin 1905, I, p. 146 (Zbl. Ill, p. 168). 



POETS AND DREAMS 353 

Goethe describes Egmont's dream.* The man condemned 
to death longed for freedom and his beloved. Then the dream 
begins: Clara appears as freedom. The hero awakens 
strengthened. Robitsek sought to interpret with extraordi- 
nary sharp sightedness the particular relations but did not find 
undivided approval, t 

Bjornson describes in his novel, ''Arne," the mother of the 
hero in concise terms : " ' She was the only child of her parents. 
In her eighteenth year, she remained sitting too long at a 
jdaneing festival.'"' She danced with the violinist. "In this 
night, Margit dreamed of a great red cow which had stolen 
into the grain in the field. She ought to drive her away but 
though she strove hard to do so, could not move from her place ; 
the cow remained standing quietly and ate until she became 
round and sleek. ' ' $ After this dream, in which the dreamer 
symbolized her life-desires and herself in a cow and expressed 
her most secret wish, we are not surprised at the fact that on 
the next Sunday, she sought the violinist again and was seduced 
by him. The poet gives us only a little data from a whole life 
history but among that a dream. This shows how great value 
he attributed to it as the indicator of the mind. 

The finest work of art in relation to dream and delirium is 
Jensen 's ' ' Gradiva, ' ' on which Freud has written a monograph. 
A similar estimate of the dream, we find among numerous poets. 
I mention only Jeremia Gotthelf 's ''Anne Babi Jowager," K. 
F. Meyer's ''Glocklein," Tolstoi's "Gebet," Wildenbruch 's 
* ' Ilexenlied, " Andersen's "Madchen mit den Schwefelholz- 
chen," Hauptmann's ''Hannele," Ibsen's ''Klein Eyolf." 
Painters also compose this way: I mention only Moritz von 
Sehwind's "Gefangenen" (Prisoner) for whom the Brownies 
sawed through the trellis bars and to whom a kind angel 
brought refreshment. 

The folk-song also knows the symbolic significance of the 
dream. A song in ' ' Des Knaben Wunderhorn" runs as follows : 

*Eobitsek, pp. 451-464. 

t Silberer, Vorlaufer Freud'scher Gedanken. Zbl. I, p. 446. 

$ Bjornsons ausgew. Werke (German by Lobedanz), Vol. II, p. 14. 



354 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

"When I the whole day through 
Have done my tasks 
Still there is more to do. 
At night when I should sleep 
Oft am I awakened 
By a dream with awful fear. 

In sleep I see the ghost 

Of my most beloved 

With mighty bow 

To which are many arrows drawn 

Wherewith he will me lift 

From out this grievous life. 

Gazing at such grim specter, 

I cannot quiet keep 

And cry in shrieking tones 

boy, cease your anger, 

1 am going to sleep 

You will not need your weapons." 

Here we find the common symbol of arrow for member, of 
death for the sexual act.* The anxiety corresponds to the 
pent-up life-desire. The dreamer flees from the dream into 
reality as the swoon, the dream, the neurotic symptom are to 
be understood as flight into the unreal automatism. 

Freud has shown how intensively the acumen of psycholo- 
gists from Aristotle and his monograph on dreams and dream 
interpretation down to Havelock Ellis, Sante des Sanctis and 
Void has been employed on our subject. 

* Representation by contrast, simultaneously suggesting disappear- 
ance of the sense. The love-death is typical : E. T. A. Hoffman lias his 
hero say: "You believe too that the highest beatitude of love, the ful- 
fillment of the mystery, is consummated in death." (Elixiere des Teu- 
fels, Berlin-Leipzig 1908, p. 157) ; Novalis says: "In death, love is the 
sweetest; for the loving one, death is a bridal night, a secret of sweet 
mysteries" Heilborn, Novalis, p. 160). He speaks of a "mystical mar- 
riage of pleasure and death" (p. 116). Heilborn rightly adds that the 
pairing of ideas of death and sensuality is the way of all mystics^ (p. 
104). Compare Isolde's Liebestod by Wagner (see above p. 320), 
Kleist's death, etc. 



THE DREAM-WORK 355 

(b) the dee am work 

The plain meaning of many dreams lies right at hand. 
When, in Ibsen's "Klein Eyolf," the hero sees his lame child 
who was drowned, healthy and jumping around in the dream, 
this is comprehensible to us. Why, however, are other dreams 
senseless or trifling? 

For answer to this question, we turn to the psychoanalytic 
investigation. Let us take a few simple examples : 

A teacher aged thirty-five, sees himself going through bad 
weather to a school-house from which many young people are 
coming. Beside the house stand two furniture vans of which 
one is already loaded and ready to depart. Through the door, 
one sees a carefully equipped drawing-board. The other wagon 
is not yet entirely loaded. On account of the rain, many 
objects were placed under the wagon. The cover of the vehicle 
was pushed far up in perpendicular slots. A friend stands 
alongside. 

[Bad weather.] " We have had it for some days. I wanted 
to start on a mountain trip but felt indisposed and feared to 
be held back by rain. ' ' 

[School-house.] "On the trip, a pupil from this one and a 
teacher from another school-house were to participate, namely, 
my friend P." 

[Furniture van.] "On the day before the dream, my 
mother spoke of moving." 

[The loaded wagon.] "My pupil has already gone to the 
mountain, my friend is waiting for me and I am not yet ready. ' ' 

[Drawing-board.] "I wrote first 'Reisbrett' (for Reiss- 
brett) = guideboard." 

[The other wagon.] "The cover shoved up says: * delayed 
is not prevented.' This applies to my trip." 

[The objects under the wagon.] ' ' They were protected from 
the rain. Waiting hurts nothing, ' ' 

Now the superficial interpretation of the dream is plain. 
The sleeper is to be consoled for his ill humor. Behind the 
dream ideas, the so-called manifest content, lurk the hidden 



356 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

motives, the latent dream, thoughts. The complete work of 
transposing the latter into the former is known to us, the so- 
called dream work. We find the condensation (mountain trip, 
moving of the mother, in the figure of the furniture vans), the 
symbolical representation, here accomplished by a word-bridge 
(Reissbrett — Reisbrett, lifted cover [aufgeschoben] — delayed 
is not prevented (aufgehoben). One motive for the dream al- 
ways belongs to an experience of the previous da}' or next pre- 
ceding day. Here it is a very insignificant one : a conversation. 
But it affords material for effective symbolization. The dream 
is without affect (lack of emotion). Not all the ways of mani- 
festation found by us were utilized. The regression into the 
infantile may still be added : The dreamer as a child experi- 
enced many movings which went off well in spite of bad 
weather. Further, a deeper meaning may be suspected : F. is 
married to a youthful girl friend of the dreamer, now grown 
handsome and strong and was envied by the latter, since his 
wife is thin. On the other hand, F. has no children to expect 
while the dreamer, to his gratification, sees himself in this posi- 
tion (objects under the wagon). Finally, the peculiar furni- 
ture wagon is a functional symbol : The dreamer consoles him- 
self that his unsatisfied longing for love will still be gratified. 
But so he has waited for years and does nothing to reach a better 
situation with his love, to attain a nobler relation to his wife. 
The over-interpretation was revealed only after the first inter- 
pretation, from associations collected. 

A pastor friend of mine dreamed that he was amid a howling 
mob of negroes by whom Europeans were killed. A huge fat 
negro seized him and lifted him on high in order to dash him 
to the ground. N., however, grasped a branch of a tree and 
felt secure. Some men dragged a piano into the dining-room. 
Suddenly their leader braced himself in a certain corner with 
the assertion that if the floor should fall down now, the floor 
in this corner would hold securely. 

Both dreams are to their creators, senseless and without con- 
nection to their conscious mental lives. 

[Mob of negroes.] "Three days before the dream, I held a 



ANALYSIS OF DREAM 357 

lecture on the mission in Africa and rejoiced that Christian cul- 
ture had overcome cannibalism. ' ' 

[The negro giant.] "Black, Pastor Black, Pastor Z., Pastor 
C. The latter is large, dark skinned and very robust." (I 
might have named these persons for associations but pro- 
ceeded) : 

[The branch.] " On a sheet of pictures, an ape was pursued 
by a lion, but at the last moment, jumped on a branch, mocked 
and maltreated the lion. In the dream, I swung myself trium- 
phantly on high. ' ' 

[The piano.] * 'My seemingly heavy, black piano was really 
transported into the dining-room before the dream. The leader 
in the dream is the father of the real baggage-man. I spoke 
with both men on the day before the dream. ' ' 

[The corner of the room.] ''The favorite plan of my wife 
who assists the mission very cleverly. 

"And now I understand the occasion of the dream. Pastor 
C, my neighbor, preached a sermon which was rather cool and 
detrimental to the mission. He is a large man, according to his 
own statement, inclined to corpulency, clothed in black and 
having a dark beard. Plainly, he is the negro. I felt myself 
attacked by his sermon since I was openly identified with the 
mission. A friend of the mission said to me: 'Now I shall 
give Pastor C. nothing more for the works conducted by him. ' 
I thought: 'Pastor C. was a duffer to injure himself so.' Or 
no, I did not think so, I wished hijm only the result of his 
imprudent conduct but in the dream I made a duffer out of the 
pastor. Out of me whom he treated slightingly in the sermon, 
I made an ape who first feared the lion but then despised him, 
overcame him and raised myself high above him. ' ' 

The second dream seems to have nothing to do with the first 
but confirms the unbreakable rule that all dreams of a night 
(even when they are interrupted by awakening) form one 
homogeneous whole.* 

The piano is heavy and black like the negro and threatens 
the dreamer like Pastor C. in the preceding dream. The 

* Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 261. 



358 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

dreamer saves himself in the favorite plan of his wife who per- 
forms such excellent service for the mission. He identifies him- 
self with the man who managed the moving of the piano and 
thus climbs to leader of his colleague. Thereby, he makes him- 
self father of the real baggage-man because he will be something 
better, the spiritual father. Thus the first dream saj's: 
Pastor C. cannot hurt the mission and me, he injures only him- 
self and I triumph. The second dream adds: My wife also 
helps me to gain this victory. 

Both dreams depict also a transposition of inclination : The 
dreamer was previously very cordial to his colleague, to his 
wife, less so. Now the relationships are reversed, at least an 
attempt is made in this direction. 

It has been said that dreams are unimportant, mere repeti- 
tions of daily happenings. Both statements are incorrect. 
There are no mere reproduction-dreams. The unconscious is 
much too autistic to devote itself to minutiae. Where it seems 
different, the dream has deeper meaning. As proof for this, 
we may offer two examples from a number of observations : 

A gentleman of about thirty-eight years disputed the observa- 
tion that a repressed wish is fulfilled in every dream and re- 
ferred to a dream which merely repeated quite closely an ex- 
perience of that day : "I was going with my band of pupils to 
the station but the train had just gone. Later I turned back 
and mounted the train. ' ' 

[I know absolutely nothing of the affairs of your life except 
that you are married. Were you something of an elderly 
"young sport" when you had the dream?] "That is so." 
[And were you afraid that you might already have lost the 
power for connection?] "I remember perfectly that this 
thought often troubled me at that time. How do you know 
this?" 

I will disclose to the reader that ' ' station " is an exceedingly 
frequent sexual symbol. At the station are the trains which 
run in and out. The literature shows a mass of proof for this, 
in itself, surprising symbolism, which I myself have found sub- 



ANALYSIS OF DREAM S59 

stantiated times without number. Thus the dreamer consoled 
himself by still coming to marriage. 

The reproduction-dream of a student ran as follows: "I 
was sitting on the stage of an auditorium. This has really hap- 
pened in the afternoon. Only in the dream, I saw some gen- 
tlemen sitting on the benches. ' ' 

[Plainly it is your dearest wish to become a university pro- 
fessor.] "That is a fact; it is the goal toward which I strive 
with all my power." 

As with these two dreams, so countless others may be inter- 
preted by the experienced analyst without more facts. There- 
fore, no one should tell his dreams in society. Inexperienced 
people disclose their innermost and most delicate secrets. Still 
in the beginning, one should not devote one's self to guessing 
but seek carefully, according to the fundamental rules of 
analysis, the material for interpretation. 

Finally, a last example which may show how in the dream, 
without exception, an important affair of the dreamer's is 
treated even where not the slightest trace of it is to be detected 
in the content. The dream is, as a matter of fact, always ego- 
centric* 

A theological student in love dreamed: "The Duchess of 
Angouleme is expected." Who this lady is, he cannot tell. 
[Angouleme.] "Angleterre" (England). "There, my be- 
loved is staying. 'Angoul' reminds me of angelus, angel. 
Such, I consider the beloved. Angoul agrees also with angulus, 
angle. Yesterday, I sang the whole day : ' She is my thought 
by day and night and dwells by the corner of the gate. ' This 
student song fits in, for my beloved lives beside a gate arch." 

[Duchess.] "The duchess from Ekkehard who loved a 
theologian without winning him. In the legend which I read 
when a child, there were duchesses whom I naturally would 

* Freud ( Traumdeutung, p. 254) calls it, as we have heard, egoistic. 
Often, however, real moral performances which demand sacrifice, are 
the content of the dream. Probably Freud understands egoistic as we 
conceive of egocentric. 



360 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

have liked to possess. I was long afraid of not winning my 
lady friend." 

[Angouleme.] " 'Leme is short for: 'Elle aime.' She 
really loves me too. ' ' 

[Is expected.] "I may hope that of the girl. Before the 
dream, she invited me to make a visit. ' ' 

[The Duchess of Angouleme.] "I have no idea whether 
such a person ever lived. ' ' (The conversation lexicon gave the 
information that she was a daughter of Louis XVI, saw the 
beheading of her parents, and later, thanks to her preference 
for the side of a capable man, became happy.) "Now I re- 
member that as a child, I read of the history of the unfortu- 
nate girl and that I thought I would certainly have married 
her. For the rest, the parents of my friend are somewhat 
estranged from their daughter because they do not understand 
her mental peculiarities. I have hoped to be able to provide 
a substitute for her parents. ' ' 

Here we see the regression to the infantile, the hypermnestic 
performance of the dream. The dream here realizes a real 
childhood wish which Freud asserts of all dreams * when he 
says : ' ' The dream is the representative of the infantile scene 
changed by transference to recent material. ' ' 

It will be easy for the reader, by analysis of his own dreams 
or those of others, to find the other mechanisms of the manifes- 
tation in the dream work. That which distinguishes the dream 
is the dramatization, the arrangement of the material in a pic- 
torial connection which is only interrupted when nothing more 
can be done with the material at hand because the latent idea 
would be betrayed or because the thing is too painful and a 
solution of the conflict is not found in the dream. In such 
cases, there occurs in normal individuals, a flight into reality, 
an awakening, which is then often accompanied by the thought : 
"Thank God it was only a dream!" This consciousness can 
also appear in the dream itself in order to quiet the dreamer, f 

Since the dream condenses, symbolizes, represents by oppo- 

* Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 365 f. 

f Stekel, Beitrage zur Traumdeutung. Jahrb. I, pp. 459^66. 



DREAM INTERPRETATION 361 

site and sublimates, the meaning of the latent content is not 
exhausted by a single interpretation. One can never say that 
one has found the deepest meaning.* Many dreams cannot in 
general be interpreted,! "The complete interpretation of 
such a dream coincides with the analysis. "J "In the inter- 
pretation of every dream element, ' ' according to Freud, " it is 
doubtful whether 

(a) it is to be understood in positive or negative sense (con- 
trast relation) 

(b) it is to be interpreted historically (as reminiscence), 

(c) symbolically, or 

(d) its estimation should proceed from the wording." || 
For reassurance, the author adds: "In spite of this possi- 
bility of many interpretations, one may say that the representa- 
tion of the dream-work, which is indeed intended not to be 
understood, offers no greater difficulties to the translator than 
the writers of the old hieroglyphics gave their readers. ' ' 

Stekel asserts on the contrary that as a result of the ' ' bipo- 
larity of all psychic phenomena, ' ' each of the two possible in- 
terpretations which every dream fragment may claim, may be 
correct.^ "Everything in the dream is bipolar. To the mas- 
culine impulses there correspond feminine, to the proud, 
humble, to the good, bad, etc." Certainly the ambivalence 
extends very far but that it covers everything, I do not see. 

"We must still say something regarding the origin and later 
fate of the dream. Great importance has been atrributed to 
bodily stimuli by the non-analytic side. Analysis, however, 
shows that every physical irritation passes over into the mani- 
fest dream content only when it affords the unconscious oppor- 
tunity for elaboration. 

A girl dreams of a band which she is following on X Street. 
A moment later, she awakens to the sound of a passing bugle 
corps. 

* Freud, Traumdeutung, pp. 108, 223, 350. 

t Same, p. 350. 

% Freud, Die Handhabung d. Traumdeutung i. d. Psa. Zbl. II, p. II. 

II Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 267. 

% Stekel, Die Sprache des Traumes, p. 535. 



362 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

[X Street.] " There, many elegant but bad girls parade. I 
am glad that I am not like one of them. When a child, I liked 
to follow bands. ' ' 

The girl is in moral distress. She is fond of dress and pas- 
sionately erotic in high degree. She envies elegant prostitutes 
but represses the unallowed desire. In the dream, she sees 
herself on X Street wherewith the wish to be a prostitute comes 
to account. But she sees herself as innocent child running be- 
hind a band so that her conscience is satisfied. The dream thus 
reveals itself, as always, as a compromise between two mutually 
contending repressing, instinctive impulses. 

A gentleman dreams at the moment of awakening that his 
wife is borne into the room dead, whereupon he feels great 
anxiety. 

The door was opened just at this minute. Already the 
crash caused by this had often frightened him but never in 
such degree. His wife entered. He was considering dissolv- 
ing his marriage to the unloved one. Hence the death-wish 
which came to expression in the dream. 

A normal individual dreamed very clearly in the summer 
resort on awakening that someone said in front of his window : 
" It is not quite six o 'clock. ' ' He convinced himself, however, 
that some Italians were speaking outside who could not speak 
a word of German. He had gone to sleep with the resolution to 
get up at six o 'clock in order to go mountain climbing and had 
been afraid of oversleeping. One might ask whether this was 
a hypnotic-like dream or a hypnoid illusion. 

Such utilization of unexpected external irritations as also 
cryptography and cryptolalia, convinced me that these manifes- 
tations are formed with great rapidity. 

To the sources of the dream, suggestion is also to be reckoned. 
Silberer's hypnagogic dream investigation (page 241) and 
Schrotter's artificial dreams in hypnotized persons (Zentral- 
blatt II, page 638 ff ) afforded evidence that ordinary dreams 
are also dependent on suggestive influences. As a matter of 
fact, the variety of dreams which appear during the analysis 
with different analysts betrays very plainly the effect of sug- 



CONSCIOUS DISTORTION OF DREAM 363 

gestion. One does well, therefore, to support the theory of 
interpretation mostly on first dreams or manifestations previ- 
ous to the analysis. 

Surprising and to me inexplicable is the fact that direct 
speech in the dream, as Freud found, goes back to such in 
reality.* I have very often found this statement confirmed. 

It was urged against dream analysis that the dream was spun 
out and distorted after awakening so that an interpretation of 
the real dream would be impossible. In answer to this, it may 
be remarked that this subsequent dream elaboration as well as 
the forgetting of bits of dreams, is caused by the same forces 
which occasioned the dream. One keeps the dream so long as 
the complexes underlying it can invest themselves in this ma- 
terial. It does not matter at all if the dreamer phantasies in 
addition or lies somewhat about it. One may quietly admit 
such phantasies. If anyone dreams of someone present in the 
dream without seeing a single characteristic of him, then one 
simply says: "Imagine what this dream figure was like." 
These subsequent associations are as important for the ex- 
planation as the matter really dreamed. As a rule, they af- 
ford the key to the whole situation: they help to find the 
thoughts about which the disparate, diverging dream frag- 
ments group themselves and which they illustrate. (Herein 
lies the criterion for the correctness of the interpretation.) 
They lead to the unconscious which manifests itself in the 
dream. 

Of great importance is Freud's observation on the after- 
effect of the dream: "When, after a dream, the belief in the 
reality of the dream pictures persists uncommonly long, so 
that the dreamer cannot free himself from the dream, this is 
not an error of judgment occasioned by the vividness of the 
dream pictures but is a psychic act in itself, an assurance which 
relates to the dream content, that something therein is really 
as it was dreamed and one is right in believing this assur- 
ance." t 

* Freud, Traumdeutung, pp. 134, 241, 247, 278. 
t Freud, Gradiva, p. 48. 



364 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

I gave an example of this in my first psychoanalytic publica- 
tion, "Wahnvorstellung und Schiilerselbstmord" * (Delu- 
sion and Suicide in Pupils). A fifteen year old boy dreamed 
that he had committed incest with his sister. No matter how 
vigorously he denied the accusation as impossible, he could not 
free himself from the feeling that the reality agreed with the 
dream. He fell into anxiety and doubt until, almost ready for 
suicide, he asked his sister on conscience whether he had com- 
mitted incest with her. The indignant girl asserted that not 
the slightest immorality had occurred, whereupon tranquillity, 
even though not complete, appeared. Yet, three years after 
the dream, the memory of it brings tears. 

Asked to fix his attention on the dream, the youth imme- 
diately remembered that his sister had enlightened him re- 
garding sexual matters and spoke of incest between brothers 
and sisters which excited the brother sexually. The girl spoke 
repeatedly of similar things which every time occasioned volup- 
tuous sensations in the boy. His phantasies were overempha- 
sized. So far, a real occurrence corresponded to the dream, 
which may have been preceded by others in the early years of 
childhood. 

(C) THE LOGIC OF THE DREAM 

Since the dream dispenses with conscious apperception, 
strict logical thinking is in great part denied it. It possesses 
guiding tendencies, otherwise the artistic dream structure 
would not come into existence, but these are not conscious, how- 
ever. 

What we perceive as logical functions in the dream, fall into 
the following groups : 

1. Quite simple pertinent performances, judgments, se- 
quences, comparisons, computations, etc. 

2. False logical activities. The simplest conclusions are 
drawn incorrectly. Computations which a child could do, have 
a wrong answer. Often a preceding correct judgment is up- 

* Schweiz. Blatter f. Schulgesundheitspflege 1909, No. 1. 



LOGIC IN DREAM 365 

set by a subsequent false one and the latter finds firm belief in 
the dream. 

3. From the waking life, logical performances are taken 
over in direct speech or without such. Conclusions in the 
dream have always arisen in the waking life.* 

4. Logical judgment concerning the dream, for instance, 
criticism: This is nonsense, or: this is impossible, or: this is- 
merely a dream. These reflections, which often appear upon 
awakening and conduce to new sleep, signify a flight into the 
form of the waking life and accomplish the purpose of protect- 
ing the sleeper. 

Highly logical intellectual performances, as calculations, 
essays, poems, which were executed in sleep are not genuine 
dreams. 

In order to manifest the finer logical relations of the latent 
dream thoughts, the dreamer makes use of special means which 
often serve their purpose with astonishing cleverness in witty 
or shrewd allusions. We have become familiar already with 
condensation, transposition of emotion, symbolic representa- 
tion, representation by opposite and other mechanisms. 

We may now describe how the logical relations come to ex- 
pression. As pictography, for example the Indian pictorial 
writing, places the members of the logical chain side by side 
without visible connection, so does the dream. It can repre- 
sent causality only by spacial or temporal juxtaposition. 
Temporally, by one dream fragment's containing the founda- 
tion of another, t Spacially, by placing cause and effect side 
by side or uniting them in a composite figure or by the repre- 
sentation of the cause passing over into that of the effect.$ An 
element of the composite figure contains the cause of the 
hallucination of the devil on page 38. We met a good example 
also on page 194 in the dream of the courtyard of the barracks 
and the polyclinic. 

* Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 301. 

t Same, p. 248. 
t Same, p. 249. 



366 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Two dream fragments may have various relations to each 
other. Perhaps they are joined in the latent content by : 
either — or, perhaps by : partly — partly, perhaps by : as — so. 

Throughout, it is to be remembered that the dream serves 
autistic interests, not real ones. But regard for phantastic 
gain of pleasure or the wish to carry out a repressed impulse in 
the dream can also take into account causal relationships when 
such exist in the repressed motives. 

Hallucinations, we have already recognized in sufficient num- 
bers. They constantly presuppose mental conflicts since they 
persist in getting their own reality. 

The waking phantasies are of high value in judging the 
mental condition. During a single dream, only a momentary 
situation is represented, and in the morning an entirely new 
disposition of libido may appear ; the day dreams are marked by 
strong tendency to persist. A single phantasy may be elabor- 
ated for months or years with immense expenditure of affect, 
iintil finally a whole romance is spun out, while the stereotyped 
dream occurs less frequently and does not undergo any such 
extended elaboration. Such day dreams, which regularly point 
to lack of gratification in life and should be held innocent of the 
deficiency in reality, are constantly invested with much affect. 
As the performance of waking life, the day-dream is less distant 
from the domain of possibility than the sleeping dream, so is it 
less bizarre and absurd. Hence it is often more difficult to 
interpret. 

A girl of sixteen years was haunted for years by the follow- 
ing phantasy: She is the head of an oppressed Huguenot 
family. She is imprisoned and must renounce her faith. She 
stands heroically for her faith and dies a martyr. 

It is striking that she dreams of herself as spiritual leader. 
The termination betrays the melancholia which rules her wak- 
ing life also. To imprisonment, she associated father, a higher 
official who had been imprisoned for fraud and had shot him- 
self when the child was nine years old. The spiritual role 
meant an identification with the grandfather who was a pastor 



COMPENSATION IN DREAM 367 

but had gone over to a life insurance company, thus in the eyes 
of the child, had been unfaithful to his office. Further, the 
little one found a passionately adored father-substitute in her 
pastor. Thus in the waking phantasy, the daughter elaborated 
her great childish grief by expiating in her heroic deed the 
misdeeds of her father and grandfather. The obsessing phan- 
tasy ceased from the moment of the analysis. 

The youth described on page 265, who was pathologically shy 
of girls, frequently produced the following phantasy which I 
found in his letter : ' ' The Swiss are in a bloody war with a 
neighboring State. I immediately enlist as volunteer while 
my comrades stay at home. I overcome fatigue and become 
ensign by brilliant execution of orders. In the final great 
decisive battle, I bear the colors in the foremost ranks and 
strike down every one with my right arm. We are victorious. 
In the parade in Zurich, I march ahead with the tattered, 
blood-stained colors. Nora gives me flowers ; no one sees them, 
I conceal them under my shirt on my breast. Someone comes 
upon me. I strike off this person's head with my sabre. It 
resembled yours. In the name of the soldiers, I make a speech 
to the colonel, we give him three cheers. I come home. No 
one there. Nora invites me in. I tell her family of my ex- 
periences. Later, I go walking with Nora and give her a gold 
cross which I received as decoration. We have remained 
mutually true to each other. We are married and live happily. 
I never go to the tavern. We always go together. We have a 
daughter who resembles Nora in looks but me in character." 

The resistances were great. The youth wished to become 
a professional officer. The sabre with which he can strike 
a man down impresses him tremendously (counter-reaction 
against repression of masturbation). [Nora gives flowers.] 
' ' In C Street. There I saw beautiful girls. One wore a beau- 
tiful dress which was torn below, however. ' ' 

[Someone comes upon me.] "This I phantasied in addition 
only while writing it down. The man came from behind." 

[The man.] " It is you. The parents are mistrustful of you 



368 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

and assert that you only wish to pump me.* They were like- 
wise beheaded on C Street near the former place. ' ' 

[The place.] "My teacher H. Sometimes I can endure 
him, sometimes, not. Once we were coming from the railway. 
In the crowd, mother and I lost father. At the Place of 
Execution, father came upon us. Mother was weeping about 
him and cried that she would go the next day to a lawyer for a 
divorce. The people looked after us. I was also very angry 
at father. This happened many years ago." [The gold 
cross.] "Tannera tells of the iron cross; the golden is still 
more beautiful. ' ' 

The wishes are plain enough. The bashful youth becomes 
conquering hero and lover, exemplary husband and father. 
He identifies me in his negative transference with his father 
and kills me as his perfidious enemy. The beloved, avoided in 
reality, becomes his own when he has killed the father-complex 
within him. In this, the dream is entirely right; it came to 
fulfillment later to the letter. 

7. Cryptolalia and Cryptography 

When I investigated the previously undeciphered produc- 
tions of religious secret speech and automatic writing, I found 
that every one, though he made senseless syllables, flourishes 
and other signs, every time gave masked expression to the com- 
plexes ruling within him. Where dreams were denied, I often 
made use with the best results of this simple measure, to con- 
sider this refusal every time as the association in order to con- 
tinue the analysis. The fact that in this way a forgotten dream 
was often again brought to mind, betrays the fact that the same 
forces were acting in both manifestations. 

(a) cryptolalia 

An acquaintance, forty years of age, upon my request, wrote 
meaningless words, namely : ' ' Parastintunga nodaratschiwu. ' ' 

* This was so. Especially did the severely hysterical mother speak 
badly of me, since I had recommended her to a lady physician skilled in 
psychoanalysis, whom she did not visit. The hostility of the parents 



CRYPTOLALIA 369 

[Parast.] Palace in Togo. I heard it related this after- 
noon of a Togo chief who built huts for his two wives north and 
south from his village. I also saw the picture of these women. 
One was not bad. [Parast.] Parasite. When a boy, I read 
Schiller's drama which bears this title. Here is found this 
verse : ' ' There is room in the tiniest hut for a pair who are 
happy in love." Thus again a hut like that of the pleasing 
negress. When I read Schiller's verse, I already knew it, for a 
young admirer of my early widowed mother had recited it. 
When I was one to four years old and seven to eight, I dwelt 
with my mother in a tiny house (infantile root). 

[tunga.j Tonkin. Here too dwell pretty black women of 
small stature but good looks, attractive. To-day I met a simi- 
lar looking girl who gave me the impression of a graceful, dark 
little witch, but of loose morals. She went into a questionable 
house. And now I recall a young lady who in my emotional 
life took precedence of my wife who unfortunately is unlovable. 
I could never make up my mind, however, to be untrue to my 
wife, no matter how much I was attracted to the kindly, dark 
little friend who was entirely respectable. The latter is highly 
attractive and passionate, her ethical compulsion still not re- 
moved. Now it occurs to me that *'Parastin" exactly agrees 
with Greek " Trapeo-Ttv, " "he, she or it is there" except that e 
is replaced by a (on account of "Palast" and "Parasit").. 
The situation is really this, that I wish a little hut for a loving 
pair. I imagine this hut as real. 

[tunga.] Dschungeln. I wished to give my wife the " Jun- 
glebook" by Kipling. [Junglebook.] A funny episode — 
hold! Now I notice that my wife behaves like the amusing 
group of whom I thought. Thus, by the present, I would ex- 
press my derision without knowing it. [tunga.] Hungary. 
Saint Elizabeth came from there as I found asserted in one of 
your books. She was an unfortunate masochist whom they 
should have left alone in Hungary. She died very young be- 
cause of the maltreatment she received. My wife also bears 

made the treatment difficult. We have heard that the recovery finally 
resulted nevertheless. 



370 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

with all piousness and nobility of mind self -tormenting traits 
which disturb our marriage. She too might have better stayed 
in her parents' home. She has little life and my efforts to 
unburden her spirit are fruitless. ( The reader will fill out the 
repressed wish : ' ' That she might also die early like the Hun- 
garian. ' ' 

[Nodaratschiwu] "no"=:non, not, " daratschiwu " : Der- 
wisch, "iwu" = ich will (I will). "I will be no Dervish." 
Dervishes are foolish people who renounce marriage in favor of 
their vows. Nodara reminds me of Biblical Gadara, the place 
where the possessed dwelt, melancholy men who lived among the 
tombs. I too often suffer from attacks of sadness since my 
marriage has lost its value from the repellent behavior of my 
wife. I seem meanwhile like one who has no wile at all and 
from exaggerated conscientiousness only recoils from divorce 
because he promised her lifelong fidelity. Thus, I too am a 
Dervish who has pledged himself to celibacy. Now it occurs 
to me that the first syllables sound much like a place where I 
had a little adventure. On a mountain trip to Piz Morteratsch, 
I went with a sympathetic young lady whom I esteemed very 
highly, into an empty sheep-shed in order to see the interior. 
We were entirely alone. Then a peculiar feeling came over 
me. Here we had again a hut for a happy loving couple ! 
Nevertheless, I was not really in love with the girl although I 
liked to tarry in her company. 

How would it be if one inverted the word ? 

[uwischtaradon,] Adon is a name of a god. Adon == 
Adonis is the chief god of the Phoenicians, the husband of the 
love-goddess, Astarte, Babylonian Ishtar. Wonderful! Also 
the name ''Ischtar" is in the secret word directly before Adon 
(ischtar-adon) ! Now I understand also the syllables 
"schiwu"; they mean ''Schiwa" the cruel husband of the 
fruitful love-goddess. Kali Durga, who in spite of her children, 
is still a virgin. ]\Iy wife also has children but will have no 
more sexual intercourse and acts like a prude ; her character is 
old-maidish. A sadistic trait in her is unmistakable. In view 
of her refusal, I am not gratified by sexual intercourse with her. 



CRYPTOLALIA AND CRYPTOGRAPHY 371 

Sometimes I said to myself, now in the feeling of my superior- 
ity I will exercise my conjugal rights with a certain malicious 
joy, thus play the cruel Schiwa. Yet this afforded me little 
gratification. Ishtar is a right sympathetic figure to me. Her 
descent into hell, on which, she left behind her clothes piece- 
meal, is of great beauty. My wife is overprudish. Likewise 
my mother, with whom I shared the sleeping-room as a child 
and boy. I considered it a sin to see her when undressing and 
therefore fought against curiosity. 

[Uw] the poem "Nis Randers" by Otto Ernst. ''Mother, 
it is Uwe ! " I too have a brother on the stormy sea. The 
newspapers announce to-day the destruction of ships. I hope 
my brother is saved. (Identification : ' ' And I too ! ") 

The cryptolalia can thus be interpreted in the statement : I 
will neither renounce love like a Dervish as a sacrifice to my 
marriage vow nor like a Schiwa, live beside my masochistic 
wife but will either live in a little hut with a beloved or like an 
Adonis, revel by the side of a goddess of love in order to be 
saved. In the second word, the contrast is very beautifully 
expressed : Normally read, there is the need from the complex, 
by inversion, the gratification of the complex. The thought 
that the word must be read backwards suddenly appeared with 
force. Probably few readers would have thought of this 
method. Philology recognizes it and names it by the word, 
reversal of sounds or metathesis. Karl Abel introduces in his 
investigation of the contrasting meanings of primitive words, a 
number of excellent examples (page 320). Freud, from whose 
work, I derive my knowledge of this phenomenon, calls to mind 
how often inversion occurs in the dream and in childish speech 
(we add : also in hysterical attack) .* 

(b) cryptography 

The process of ecstatic speaking with tongues returns, as we 
saw, in the arbitrary meaningless speech of normal individuals. 
I decided therefore, to trace the automatic cryptography, the 
senseless writing in healthy mental life. My expectations were 

* Freud, u. den Gegensinn d. Urworte, Jahrb. II, p. 184, 



372 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

completely fulfilled. I will give some tests in the following 
examples. The reader will recognize that the method of ex- 
ploration is exactly the same as that which we apply to neu- 
rotic phenomena and the dream. That the analysis is repeat- 
edly incomplete and the infantile material in particular is 
neglected, I regret. The resistance of my subjects of investi- 
gation, who were attached only by scientific interest, unfortu- 
nately could not be fully eliminated. "We know indeed that for 
the overcoming of the resistances, a whole psychoanalysis is 
often necessary. I may consider it a gift of fate that the in- 
quiry into some graphic symptoms should afford at least a 
clear insight into the genesis of cryptography. 

A French artist who utilized his travels to become acquainted 
with psychoanalysis from his own observation, was kind enough 
to allow me to analyze a sketch drawn by him in my presence. 
I asked for some kind of a senseless drawing; thereupon, he 
sketched the following figure with his face averted : 




(I in the original is so lightly drawn that the line was at 
first overlooked.) 

[Think hard of your drawing and tell your associations.] 
The line (II) shows head, throat and coiffure of a young girl 
who was drawn this morning in a painting-school for ladies. 
While I was drawing the line, I did not think of it at all. The 
girl sketched, possesses a fairly plump figure and bare throat. 
Throat and bust also give, however, the outline of a fairly 
plump shoe. 

[The throat.] One of my friends, Mr. X. painted a singer 
of similar figure. Miss T. 



CRYPTOGRAPHY 373 

[The plump shoe.] It reminds me faintly of a comic statu- 
ette which represented a vagabond with fat feet and legs, bent 
backwards. One shoulder was up and forwards, the eyes were 
staring and protruding as in Basedow's disease. Similar dis- 
tressing eyes, I saw in a cow some years ago on a trip to the 
country which I took with my that-time fiancee. My feet were 
at that time in bad shape, I suffered from skin trouble and 
could hardly leave the place. I had to bind up my feet and 
limped pitifully. To my vexation, my fiancee paid no attention 
to my condition and behaved heartlessly. (About one and one- 
half years later: when small, I had great joy in pretty, shiny 
boots. I received such once from my mother whom I sur- 
prised on the evening before a Christmas celebration when she 
was arranging the present. From elation, I danced first on one 
foot, then on the other, so that I was long laughed at by mother 
and sister on this account.) 

That is a brush-head or a plum. [Brush-head.] A little 
Parisian who paints nicely. He is a neat little fellow, indus- 
trious, earnest, kind, tactful. Ah, now some traits occur to me 
which he has in common with the statuette ! 

[Plum.] Or damson. It reminds me that this year I saw 
on the tree below my studio only a single damson where ordi- 
narily the tree is full of fruit. 

[Glance at the whole again.] I can also imagine a face which 
looks to the right. It is turned away, the angle at the right 
under the top denotes the chin. [I do not see it as such.] 
But I do. It is an unsympathetic head which reminds me of a 
servant maid. My wife blamed me unjustly for an improper 
relation with her. The maid had slandered me since she de- 
sired me. This leads me to a brunette model concerning whom 
my wife likewise suspected me falsely. 



Impression of a thumb. A teacher whom I know brought 



374. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

me a similar figure which he had had one of his pupils draw. It 
was an almost more than life-size index finger right well worked 
out. To me, it looked like a male organ. The same boy, K. J, 
by name, drew the back part quite like the one I made on my 
sketch just now. 

[Let us turn back to Miss T.] My friend X had painted her 
and supported her with money. Then she left him in the lurch 
over which he was quite cut up. Miss T. reminds me of how 
my brother wished to get a divorce on account of another mar- 
ried lady. I sought to prevent the divorce by a visit and in 
so doing got home too late for dinner. My wife accused me of 
trying to take my brother's place and became violent toward 
me. Then I held her hands, whereupon she bit me in the 
finger. 

[The profile first drawn.] The brow is that of my wife, from 
whom I would be divorced. Otherwise nothing. Yes. An 
old man with a little cap. I can think of no one under this. 
Here is the face which I imagined. Hold ! I think of Voltaire. 
Our academy professor showed us his profile which was crowned 
with a little cap. At that time, there stood beside me an at- 
tractive lady, a fellow pupil, who greatly favored me and gave 
me to understand that she loved me. Further, the profile of 
Leo XIII, who likewise wore a cap. In the studio of my friend 
X, hangs the photograph of this pope ; beside it was his money 
box. Now Miss T. appears again, whom I once met there be- 
fore the relation was broken off. 

So far with the young Frenchman. Now we will attempt to 
arrange the associations. 

The subject begins with a day's experience, the sight of a 
sensual girl who is portrayed. As I remind him of this one, it 
suddenly occurs to him that he had also repeatedly wished to 
paint his fiancee but never got beyond three studies. Unfortu- 
nately, she lacked complete distinctness, so that the girl repre- 
sented to-day is killed in favor of the one-time wife. 

The outlines of the head, neck and bust remind the artist 
of the beloved of a friend who like himself had lost that fer- 
vently loved being and thereby squandered much money. The 



CRYPTOGRAPHY 375 

profile of the woman (line I) is combined with that of Voltaire 
because thereby the pleasant recollection of a pretty seducer is 
awakened and with Leo XIII because thereby the consoling 
admonition on the analogous fate of the friend X is again em- 
phasized. 

The plump shoe will likewise help to mitigate the sorrow over 
the loss of the wife. The vagabond with the plump shoe and 
the staring eyes is naturally a caricature of the artist himself : 
when he was limping around with bandaged feet, the fiancee 
showed herself heartless. The identification of the staring eyes 
of the tramp caricaturing the subject, with those of a cow io. 
the neighborhood, betrays a not very flattering compliment: 
you were a regular cow at that time because you did not ap- 
preciate the heartlessness of your fiancee and separate from 
her. The identification with the vagabond is that far consola- 
tory as the subject now enjoys a sure income and is well clothed 
which was not the case earlier. 

The brush-top refers to an elegant Parisian. This neat fel- 
low who has traits agreeing with the vagabond, consoles for 
the tramp and cow: you are also a neat, earnest, industrious 
man. 

The one damson refers in its sexual symbolism to his present 
eroticism in comparison with the earlier. 

The face turned to the right which is hard for neutral peo- 
ple to imagine (in the drawing) simultaneously calls up painful 
scenes of jealousy with the former wife and awakens thoughts 
of the -girl who desired him. 

The finger hanging beside the damson realizes in connection 
with the associations the idea of a healthy, extraordinarily 
potent sexuality. There is also a by-play here referring to the 
wife biting the finger of the artist : now the finger is healed. 

The cryptogram finally brings the following to expression : 
you are suffering from your divorce and the sexual deficiency 
caused thereby ; but you were separated from a heartless, jeal- 
ous and biting wife, whom you really should not have married ; 
you are in the condition of your friend, are more potent sexu- 
ally, a neater, superior man who won the favor of a worthy 



376 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

maiden and may therefore hope to win a much prettier and 
better wife. 

My artist was at once convinced of the correctness of this 
explanation which disclosed his deepest, little understood feel- 
ings. 

8. Manifestation- Acts 

(a) symptomatic acts 

Many apparently senseless and accidental acts, which appear 
once or habitually, are disclosed by analysis as psychologically 
imperative manifestations. Freud gives such acts the name, 
"symptomatic acts" and defines them as those ''performances 
which the person executes, as one says, automatically, uncon- 
sciously, without paying attention, as if playing, to which he 
would deny all significance and which he explains as of no 
account and accidental when he is questioned concerning 
them."* 

Where we are dealing with habits of this kind — in Swiss 
speech, they are called ' ' Modeli, ' ' little mannerisms — they often 
have an obsessional character without their possessor 's knowing 
it. He first becomes cognizant of this fact when he wishes to 
give them up but in spite of all his efforts, cannot do it. 

A student who had fallen into a dissolute life had the habit, 
whenever he was in a restaurant in the company of ladies, of 
taking matches and bending them in three places so that the 
stick was at first a little curved. Then he brought the two ends 
together and formed an oval. This play he kept up until all 
the matches were used up. The analysis brought him to the 
recognition that he was deriving a male and female symbol. 

A woman with obsessional neurosis wishes to show me a heart- 
shaped medallion. Unintentionally, she tears it from its chain 
and lets it roll at my feet. The confession concerned me and 
still as the discussion of the "transference" will show, not me. 

Karl Hase relates in his autobiography that on the day that 

* Freud, Bruciistiiek einer Hysterie- Analyse. Ivl. Schriften II, p. 
67. 



SYMPTOMATIC ACTS S77 

the child of his beloved was baptized, the ring given him by her 
was smashed in the fencing room.* 

Most people cultivate at a certain age a ceremonial of gait 
which I intend to treat in a special study. Sometimes, they 
count their steps in walking, up to a certain number, or they 
accentuate every second, third or fourth step or they devote 
special attention to the line of junction of two flag-stones in the 
side-walk, either avoiding it or stepping on it. In all cases 
analyzed by me, this refers to a process of diversion, the fund 
of energy of which springs from a complex and this has already 
occasioned an obsessional neurosis even though it may be a 
slight one. 

One pupil always had to count his steps when he passed a 
trolley-car barn where cars go in and out (compare the station 
dream, page 358). 

Another student remembers that he had the habit only on a 
certain street curve. With his attention concentrated on the 
place, he recalls that there were obscene pictures on the wall 
opposite which he wished to avoid. 

We have already spoken of the neurotic patient who drew 
his finger under the nose (page 78). A teacher told me 
that one of his pupils, in spite of all admonitions, constantly 
pushed his thumb through his button-hole. The motive is 
obvious. Nail polishing, picking of the nose and tearing of 
the skin from the finger (214) are comprehensible in this con- 
nection. 

Many symptomatic acts are already obsessions before they 
are recognized as such. The educator can easily observe this 
by taking the field against certain striking habits in writing, 
for example flourishes, writing above or below the line, shading 
the loops, etc. That handwriting is full of symbolisms, no 
one denies; that it is closely connected with the complex, we 
saw in the variations of writer 's cramp, as well as in the form 
of writing. 

Since the literature, so far as I know, affords no analysis of 
handwriting, I will give a little example : 

* K. Hase, Ideale u. Irrtiimer. Leipzig, 1872, p. 47. 



S78 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

First, the previous history: A youth of twenty-one years 
suffered from downright anger at God because his father died, 
further, from anxiety when he found his dwelling closed. 
Then he hastened in violent excitement into the studio of his 
elder sister who quieted him. 

[You stand before the closed door.] "My sister. She is 
engaged to a foreigner. I cannot endure him." [You stand 
before the door.] "The mother might be dead, therefore the 
door is closed. I would then go to the sister. I would like 
best to have her accompany me home. I always wait before our 
house until I see a light." [You stand before the door.] 
* ' The Sunday-School. I go there with mother. Now I detest 
orthodoxy. Mother is angry because I no longer go to church. 
She became excited and I said many things which hurt her. 
She said : I might wait until she was dead." [You stand be- 
fore the door.] "My sister and her fiance wish to take a 
dwelling of their own. I am anxious lest she be unhappy. 
Someone has come between my sister and me, she is no longer 
the same toward me as formerly. I loved her very much. 
Formerly I loved a girl who was unfaithful to me. Since then 
I have loved only my sister and hence her all the more in- 
tensely. ' ' 

The anxiety over the closed door is related to the wish for 
the death of the religion-compelling mother. The sister is 
phantasied into the closed dwelling because she too forms the 
object of improper wishes. Her threatened misfortune is na- 
turally only rationalization. In the studio, she is harmless: 
the brother flees from the image to reality. This young man 
has the following bad habit : 

The loops of many large letters, especially of the D, but also 
of the B, P and G, and further the inner angle of the W, he is in 
the habit of shading although it delays him and offends his 
esthetic sense. 

[Shaded letters.] "I do not fill my place, I might do more. 
Life has often seemed desolate since father died. ' ' 

[D.] "Cover (Deckel). The cover of a coffin. It is lifted 



ANALYSIS OF HAND-WRITING 379 

from the coffin and stands at the side. I have repeatedly phan- 
tasied this. This view, I had upon the death of my grand- 
mother. I fill out the empty place of the coffin. Now I see 
my grandmother in the coffin because I do not dare to see the 
mother there." 

More could not be obtained in this hour concerning the 

[Shaded B.] **Biel. When my parents were there once, I 
remained behind with the strict, bad, hated grandmother." 
[B.] ''Bible. Father liked to read aloud from it. Mother 
held me in her arms. This pleased me. Sister did not care 
much for the Bible readings. She was therefore scolded by 
father. Then I was sorry for her. Thus the Bible lost value 
for me. I feel that I still constantly undervalue it. I suffer 
constantly from a feeling of guilt. For a long time after 
father's death, I wanted to shoot myself. Mother restrained 
me. I often got on badly because I deserted her. ' ' 

Next session : 

[D.] "Roof or ceiling (Decke). I imagine the ceiling of 
a room. Until the last (likewise the first) consultation with 
you, I had feared from my fifth or sixth year, the ceiling would 
fall down on me. All ceilings, even at school. When I was 
quite a small child, I saw the devil in the folds of clothes hang- 
ing there. I was in grandmother's room. It was her apron, 
from the upper opening of which, a devil's head looked out. 
(The drawing sketched at my request, showed the apron of 
cylindrical form held by its upper points.) The devil was 
thin with goat's beard and horns. In grandmother's room, 
there was a picture with rectangular slips of paper before it : 
looked at from in front, it showed Luther, from one side, 
Zwingli, from the other side, Calvin, who with his beard quite 
resembled the devil." [Reformers.] "Nothing." [Ceiling.] 
" It is white. Once, before the vision of the devil, a beetle or a 
mouse fell down from the ceiling upon me in bed. From that 
time, I was greatly afraid of fire and thunder storms, the latter 
up to the time of military service. Otherwise, nothing more." 
[Devil.] "I knew that he tormented and scourged others. 



380 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

The grandmother also whipped me much. In a Punch and 
Judy show, I saw how the devil took a woman across his knee, 
raised her skirts and spanked her." 

Otherwise there was nothing else to be gained except a child- 
hood dream : "When I was six years old, I dreamed during a 
fever that I was screwed to a carpenter's bench and worked 
with plane and hatchet. That probably means improvement." 
(The child still slept at that time in his parents' room). 

The resistances were still apparently very strong. I ven- 
tured to give the youth the interpretation which he at once 
recognized as correct since he had already formed the thoughts 
expressed but had immediately rejected them. 

The shading of the D went back to the same motives of hate 
and defence as the anxiety before the dwelling. Otherwise, the 
phantasy of the mother in her coffin could not occur immedi- 
ately. Why the cover standing right beside the coffin made so 
strong an impression I do not know. Perhaps among other 
things, it was affected by the clang relationship with "Decke" 
(ceiling), which word has repeatedly been a critical one. The 
animal falling from the ceiling could naturally only set free a 
condition of anxiety already present, like the beetle on page 103. 
That the devil seen in the clothes and the dream of being planed 
and hewn are immediately associated with this, points the way 
for the student of anxiety-hysteria : The devil rising from the 
interior assumes on one hand the role of embodied ' ' Schaulust" 
(pleasure in looking) (compare the obscene posture of the 
woman who was spanked), on the other hand, that of the hate- 
wish which the boy with a passion for whipping would repay in 
like coin. The scene on the joiner's bench naturally corre- 
sponds to a cohabitation-phantasy : The frightened child does 
not know the meaning of the process seen in the parents, his 
instincts are powerfully excited, as unfortunately not a few 
children show who even force themselves on the mother with 
physical signs of desire. I know of a youngster not yet of 
school age who held himself against his indignant mother: 
** Father does that too." The parents would probably have 
taken oath that the child had observed nothing. 



ANALYSIS OF PASSION FOR TRAVEL 381 

The apparently insignificant writing hobby had therefore a 
very real background. Unfortunately, the anxiety vanished at 
once, the son assumed a correct attitude toward his mother, since 
he had recognized his hate and desire, and would not submit to 
more searching investigation as he now felt *' entirely cured," 
I can therefore offer only a not uninteresting fragment. 

Passion for travel is also very often a manifestation. A girl 
pupil of thirteen years longs passionately for the north, while 
she shows no interest for the south, no matter how alluringly 
one may picture it. She studies northern mythology assidu- 
ously which she has learned from a number of books. The 
analysis shows that she has easily brought her family into the 
saga of the gods. To Wotan, she associates : ' ' He is a seem- 
ingly young man, kept young artificially by Freya 's love apple, 
with one eye, in long mantle, with long pendant hat. I con- 
sider it improper that he took his daughter as wife. My 
grandfather was also old but he looked strikingly young, his 
cheeks were rosy." 

[The mantle.] "As district judge, he wore a robe." [The 
hat.] "He also wore a lawyer's cap that hung down some- 
what." [One-eyed.] "He was small and near-sighted and 
wore a monocle. ' ' [ Half eyesight, at the same time, representa- 
tion by opposite, hence Wotan the one-eyed is your grand- 
father.] To Loki, she reported: "He robbed Freya of the 
feather dress, the badge of her virginity, and turned himself 
into a fly; my brother took improper liberties with me. He 
was as persistent as a stinging-fly. Loki had the 'Fenrir- 
"Wolf . ' : My brother liked to frighten me with our wolf-skin 
rug." To Thor, she associated: "When Loki had stolen the 
feather dress, he had to make the damage good. In so doing, 
he overcame dangers: A giant's daughter sent all streams 
against him, another concealed herself under his chair and 
raised him up to squeeze him against the ceiling but he pushed 
up with a pole and pressed the giant's daughter together." 

[What comes into your mind to all this?] My father must 
make good what my brother, Loki, is guilty of. Mother and I 
often wept whole streams, he remained untouched." 



382 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

[The giant's daughter under the chair.] "When small, I 
once crept under an upholstered chair to spy out what the 
parents did. My father sat down on the chair. ' ' The evil wish 
against the consciously hated father here comes to plain expres- 
sion. A number of other relations came to light and explained 
the pathological preference for the north and the travel-fever. 
Thus, I find confirmed in this analytic subject, as in others, 
what A. von Winterstein says concerning the unconscious 
motives for travel.* 

Keen students of humanity have long known the facts dis- 
closed by Freud with scientific means. Very prettily says 
Rousseau : 

"We probably never make a mechanical movement, the cause 
of which we could not find within us if we only knew how to 
find it. Yesterday, I went along the new street on the banks 
of the Bierre to botanize. As I approached the Barriere 
d'Enfer, I suddenly turned to the right into the fields and went 
to the range of hills which border the little stream. In and for 
itself, this is nothing surprising ; but when I remembered that 
I had already taken this by-way mechanically many times, I 
sought the cause within myself and had to laugh when I dis- 
covered it. 

"Behind the Barriere, there was daily in her place a woman 
who sold refreshments. The woman had a poor little child who 
went on crutches." Rousseau liked for a while to converse 
with him, then this became irksome. "From then on, I did not 
like to go by and finally took the by-way quite mechanically. 
I brought this to light when I thought over the circumstances ; 
for nothing of all this had been conscious to me up to this 
time."t 

The poets also assign great value to the symptomatic act and 
we thereby feel esthetic pleasure, a sign that our own un- 
conscious understands that of the master. 

* Compare A. v. Winterstein, Zur Psychoanalyse des Reisens, Imago 
I, pp. 489-506. 

t Rousseau, Reveries du Promeneur solitaire. Zbl. Ill, p. 52, re- 
ported by E. Jung. 



ERRONEOUSLY-EXECUTED ACTS 383 

Jakobsen describes in his "Niels Lyhne," how a heroine who 
fell in love with the friend of her husband went carefully bal- 
ancing along the straight line of the pattern in the carpet. 
Plainly, her action expresses the wish to remain in the right, 
straight path (reaction against the adulterous desire). This 
habit is familiar to the psychiatrist as obsessional act.* 

Rudolf Hans Bartsch tells in his " Elisabeth Kott" of a lover, 
who, not able to gain his beloved, separates her fingers and 
presses his kissing lips between them and has to sneeze in her 
presence. That the latter means the ejaculation, I know from 
some of my analyses and those of a colleague. 

Here belong the many aversions against certain acts and 
foods, as well as mysterious appetites, etc. We have already 
given occasional instances of these (215). 

(b) erroneously-executed acts 

Symptomatic acts in which an intention is inadvertently and 
strikingly disturbed, without visible external cause, are called 
erroneously-executed acts (Fehlhandlungen), thus for example, 
errors in speech and writing, losing things, coming too late. 
"We have already spoken of forgetting. But the other er- 
roneous acts as well, go back to intrigues of the unconscious. 

An adherent and an opponent of psychoanalysis met each 
other in an inn and at once got into a lively discussion. The 
opponent exclaimed excitedly: ''How can you assert that 
behind an accidental movement there is an unconscious inten- 
tion? That is unscientific, entirely unscientific." At this 
moment the emotionally gesticulating man knocked his glass 
over the clothes of his vis a vis, the analyst. The day after that 
the same gentleman made a mistake which betrayed him, by pro- 
claiming : "In the year 1893, Breuer and I — ah — Breuer and 
Freud published the discovery ..." I am indebted for both 
these pretty examples to a reliable eye- and ear-witness. Now 
the reader may ask himself whether it is sensible to debate sci- 
entifically with any one who betrays his true motives so plainly. 

*Maeder, Psycholog. Unters. an Dem.-pr8ec.-Kranken. Jahrb. II, p. 
197. 



384 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Brill gives an interesting ease: He was questioned by 
another psychiatrist : "I would like to know what you would 
do in the following case : I know a nurse who was involved as 
co-respondent in a divorce proceeding. The wife sued her hus- 
band for divorce and named the nurse as co-respondent and he 
received the divorce." Brill interrupted: "You mean: she 
received the divorce, ' ' which was affirmed. He now expressed 
his surmise that his questioner was the hero of the story if he 
had not previously said that he was unmarried, for then the 
error in speech would be explained by the wish that his wife, 
and not he, had lost the case. The suspected person denied his 
connection with the case described, did it, however, with exag- 
gerated affect reaction so that Brill and a third physician who 
was present, Dr. Fink, were strengthened in their suspicions. 
Later they learned on reliable authority that they had inter- 
preted entirely correctly. The new witness was convinced by 
this experience of the correctness of the Freudian mechanisms.* 

Freud calls attention to the fact that Schiller recognized the 
deeper meaning of the error in speech. In his "Piccolomini" 
(I, 5) he describes the excitement of Octavio over his son who 
is on Wallensteiu 's side, since he accompanied the latter 's 
daughter into camp. To the Emperor 's emissary, he says : 

"Come, I must 

At once follow the miserable track 

With my eyes see — come — 
Questenberg: What for, whither? 
Octavio (hurriedly): To her! 
Questenberg : To — 
Octavio (correcting himself) : To the duke! Let us go!" 

The error in speech shows us that the father saw through the 
erotic motive of his son.f 

Rank found a similar estimation of erroneous act in 
Shakespeare. The latter in the "Merchant of Venice," has 
Portia, hindered by an oath from an open avowal of her love, 
say: 

* A. Brill, Zwei interessante Fiille von Versprechen. Zbl. II, p. 33 f. 
t Freud, Z. Psychop. d. Alltagslebens, p. 48. 



CONDUCT OF LIFE 385 

"One half of me is yours, the othei' half yours — 
Mine, I would say." * 

In addition to Freud, one finds in the Zentralblatt f iir Psycho- 
analyse a great number of further examples. An unbelievably 
large number of secrets can be read by the analyst in his fellow- 
men and by the analytically trained educator in his pupils with- 
out their knowing it. But one is glad not to have to pry into 
complexes without necessity and judges the symptoms of his 
neighbors with the charity which one wishes for his own im- 
perfections. 

(C) THE MANIFESTATION IN THE CONDUCT OF LIFE 

Even the most important and best considered decisions often 
prove to be the effects of subliminal instinctive impulses, the 
carefully formulated reasons being rationalizations. 

A fourteen year old youth who wishes to become a chemist, 
showed in his earliest years an extremely strong interest for 
feces. Countless times, the two year old child said that the 
''disgusting ravens" had eaten horse manure. Later he 
showed abnormally strong disgust for fecal odors. When about 
eight years old he visited a chemical laboratory and wished im- 
mediately to become a chemist. As reason, he gave only that it 
smelled so good in its vicinity. 

We saw in many examples (197, 268) how the choice of hus- 
band or wife is influenced by the unconscious and indeed by 
infantile fixation which precedes the educator, 

I will add a few other illustrations: A just jailer, about 
twenty-five years of age, fell in love with one of the female 
prisoners, seven years his senior and not very pretty, who had 
been brought in on account of prostitution and cheating and 
who, as a result of spinal disease, was anesthetic to the knees 
(251). He procured his discharge at once and married the 
prisoner soon after her release. The man had a fixation upon 
his mother and had nursed her in her long illness until her 
death. The wife, too, whom he chose as substitute, he treated 

* Rank, Ein Beispiel v. poet. Verwertg. d. Versprechens. Zbl. I, p. 
109 f. 



386 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

with touching solicitude. An analysis in this case would 
naturally have been inexpedient since the good man was well. 

The best representation of a brother-sister complex is given 
by Ibsen in his drama, "Klein Eyolf." My observations con- 
firm the psychological view of the great student of humanity in 
•every point. The editor and former teacher, Allmers, has 
fathered his crippled Eyolf while he tormented him with in- 
struction. He could not complete a book on human responsi- 
bility since the higher duty impelled him to devote himself 
wholly and exclusively to his little son to mitigate this one's 
bitter loss. From his wife, he withdrew his love except a rem- 
nant which could not satisfy her. After the death of the 
crippled child, the doubting father sought consolation in the 
sister whom he called his dear true Eyolf and the love for his 
wife died entirely. "Why the abnormally strong concentration 
on the child? Plainly, Allmers seeks to silence his feeling of 
guilt as he had already undertaken by his book on responsibil- 
ity. But the true reason, consciousness does not admit. He 
had allowed himself to be enticed aside for a moment by his 
wife as the child lay peacefully sleeping on the table. While 
he yielded himself to love, it fell. The sin of the father is con- 
sequently not so great as the mother 's. A cruel fate has utilized 
a little carelessness on the part of the parents. 

The motive for the guilt lies deeper : Allmers gives his child 
the name which his sister would once have borne if she had been 
a boy. He loves her, as the sister feels, not as a sister ought to 
be loved. The living with her he calls a particularly rare 
holiday. His wife, too, he took only to care for his sister. No 
doubt he has remained in his infantile attitude toward the 
sister, therefore he can transfer no real love to his excellent 
wife. The brief love frenzy, in reality, applied to the sister. 
The child who bore her name, he had wished from her. There- 
fore, Mrs. Allmers cannot love it. She herself explains that the 
aunt stands between her and the little son. The motivation 
that the sister-in-law had fascinated the child naturally does 
not correctly express the state of affairs. This attempt at 
rationalization has failed. Eather, the unhappy wife suspects 



PHILOSOPHY AND THE UNCONSCIOUS 387 

that her rival is bound to her beloved husband in repressed 
incestuous love. As a matter of fact, AUmers ' feeling of guilt 
goes back to this incestuous desire. He cannot finish his book 
on responsibility, as the sensitive wife rightly says, because of 
distrust of himself. The brother-sister complex which also 
hinders the sister in her transference upon another, goes back 
in Allmers to the mother- and father-complex: He wishes to 
atone for the harshness of the father toward the mother and 
sister. In the endeavor to make good the father's fault he 
identifies himself only too well with him, in that he treats his 
own wife badly. 

This is all, most true to life. The pastor who analyzes, sees 
many marital misfortunes proceed from unconscious inter- 
change of persons dictated by complexes of relationship. Jung 
gives splendid examples of the father-complex in his fine paper : 
''Die Bedeutung des Vaters fiir das Schicksal des Einzelnen" * 
(The Significance of the Father for the Fate of the Individual) . 

These things, too, were long familiar to poetic intuition. I 
mention only the masterly novel, "Die Tochter vom Oberbiihl" 
by the Swiss poet, Jakob Frei. 

That which we assert of the great decisions of life, applies 
also for all the highest productions of the mind, even for 
philosophy. We cannot take up this problem in this book. 
One example of Platonism and Kantianism conditioned by 
complexes I have already given on page 312. Similarly, 
Fichte's theory of the absolute ego, solipsism, pessimism, etc., 
may be shown to be manifestations. "Materialism, which 
denies the ego and has its rise wholly in the ' outer world, ' one 
can consider as the most complete projection imaginable; the 
solipsism which denies the whole world, i.e., receives it into the 
ego, is the highest stage of introjection. " f The most sharp- 
sighted of all profound psychologists, Nietzsche, even ventures 

* Jahrb. I, pp. 155-173, also separate imprint. 

t Ferenczi, Philosopliie u. Psychoanalyse. Imago I, p. 521. (In the 
projection, one feels subjective processes producing discomfort as in- 
fluences of the outer world, in the introjection, inversely, processes of 
the outer world as one's own (p. 520). Unfortunately, Ferenczi un- 
derstands the concept of philosophy in a very low sense, for he separates 



388 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

the declaration: "One must reckon the greatest part of 
conscious thinking under the activities of instinct, even in the 
case of philosophical thinking ; . . . the most conscious thought 
of a philosopher is secretly guided by his instincts and forced 
into certain channels. Further, behind all logic and its 
apparent independence of movement, stand estimations, plainly 
spoken physiological demands for the preservation of a certain 
kind of life."* Freud's,! Ferenczi's, | Putnam's || and 
Schrecker's II articles on a psychoanalytic comprehension of 
philosophy should at least be mentioned. 

9. Aet 

With unsurpassable succinctness and clarity, Freud summar- 
izes the results of analytic investigation of the psychology of art 
in these words: "The artist is originally a man who turns 
away from reality because he cannot directly make peace with 
the renunciation of gratification of instinct demanded by reality 
and preserves his erotic and ambitious wishes in phantasy life. 

it sharply from science, indeed asserts that the two belong to different 
principles, philosophy (as at least is hinted) to the pleasure-principle. 
(Ferenczi, Phil. u. Psa. Imago, p. 521.) Is the concept of the atom, 
of law, of causality, invented from the substance of the pleasure-prin- 
ciple and is there an exact science which does not have to work step 
by step with philosophical concepts? So far as one assigns to philosophy 
the task of withdrawing from the contradictions existing in the (al- 
ways naive) concepts of experience and deriving a conceivable system of 
concepts, no penetrating scholar can get along without it. That na- 
tural science has been able to exclude autism entirely, even Ferenczi will 
not assert. Putnam has defended the just claims of philosophy against 
him in excellent manner. (Putnam, Antwort auf d. Entwiderung des 
Hrn. Dr. Ferenczi. Imago I, p. 527 ff.) Silberer has also warned 
against the error of wishing to solve the metaphysical problems of 
truth by psychoanalytic interpretation. (Silberer, E. prinzip. An- 
regung. Jahrb. IV, p. 802.) 

* Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und Bose. (First Part, 3.) 

t Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 375 f. 

J Ferenczi, Introjektion und ttbertragung. Jahrb. I, p. 430. 

II Putnam, A plea for the study of philosophic methods in preparation 
for psychoanalytical work. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1911, Oct.- 
Nov., pp. 249-264. 

H Paul Schrecker, Henry Bergsons Philosophie der Personlichkeit, 
Munich, 1912, 



ANALYSIS OF ARTISTIC PRODUCTION 389 

He finds, however, the way back from this phantasy world to 
reality, in that, thanks to special talents, he molds his phantasies 
to new kinds of realities, which are allowed to pass current by 
people as valuable likenesses of reality. Thus he becomes, in a 
way, hero, king, creator, favorite, whom he would, without 
taking the tedious route of real changes in the outer world. ' ' * 
I limit myself to a few cases. 

Franz J. is an intelligent youth of eighteen years with whom 
I have repeatedly conversed on religious, philosophical and eth- 
ical topics. Sprung from pietistic circles, he had attained to 
freer views. Since the beginning of our two years ' acquaint- 
anceship he had met me with confiding frankness so that I con- 
cluded that there was a favorable transference relation. Some 
months ago his behavior toward me changed. His criticism, 
which I had previously heard gladly, assumed a grumbling tone 
and expressed fundamental negativism in scornful opposition. 
When the youth finally explained all ethical values as nonsense 
and almost in the same breath, complained of the lack of moral 
earnestness in his comrades, I recommended analytic treatment 
to him, which, after brief resistance, he accepted. It is, of 
course, preferable that the subject for analysis should come of 
his own volition ; but many times a direct summons is not to be 
avoided. 

At his first appearance, Franz confessed that life was most 
distasteful to him. He had fallen out entirely with his parents, 
and of his comrades, with one exception, he would know noth- 
ing. He often meditated on suicide. If he had not hoped to 
visit an academy of art in three quarters of a year, he would 
long since have taken his life. The visit to the institute to 
which he belonged, had become almost impossible tO' him ; only 
this week, from inner compulsion, he had shirked two days. 
His condition was a fearful one, he could not possibly endure it 
for three more quarters. Hence, it were best that he make an 
end of his life. Nietzsche had completely destroyed the hold of 
religion on him, all life values had since disappeared. 

* Freud, d. zwei Prinzipien d. psych. Gesehehens. Jahrb. Ill, p. 6. 



390 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

The youth presented a number of oil paintings and drawings 
which I, in accordance with good analytic procedure, had him at 
once exhibit and explain to me. The material which I give in 
the first part of the following section is a part of the results of 
the first three consultations ; in the fourth session, new pictures 
indicated the metamorphosis of the complexes. 

1. Self-Portrait 

First we analyzed the self-portrait which had been painted in 
two or three hours on the day of the first consultation. 

The drawing, in the original 50^/2 cm. x 64 cm. in size, is well 
painted, except that the dark, threatening facial expression 
which has characterized our budding artist for some time, is 
replaced by calm resignation.* 

Our attention soon turned to the group of heads hanging on 
the chain at the right. Franz asserted that they designated no 
distinct personalities known to him. Urged to give only his 
associations, he at once named the face on the front, his father, 
the one on the left, his mother, the one on the right, his younger 
sister. All three, as he frankly admitted, are hated by him. 

Later, he said : Only the upper part of the face resembles the 
father somewhat. Looked at closely, only the shape of the fore- 
head and the root of the nose correspond exactly to the same 
features in the father's face. (Not distinct in the picture.) 

The nose is that of his elder brother, who, walking in the steps 
of the severely religious mother, leads a quiet, pious life, shut off 
from the joys of the world. 

The wrinkles from the wings of the nose to the corners of the 
mouth belong to an uncle on the father's side who died when 
Franz was five years old. And yet, our subject still remembers 
vividly how his uncle raged in his epileptic attacks. The eye- 
brows also reminded him of this brother of his father. 

The curved extremities of the mouth revivify a brother of our 
artist, likewise epileptic, who died six years ago. 

The furrow under the nose, as well as the two points of the 

* In the reproduction, the face was changed so far as was prac- 
ticable without disturbing the comprehension. 




SELF-PORTRAIT 



ANALYSIS OF PORTRAIT 391 

upper lip (indistinet in the reproduction), Franz explained as 
derived from the hated younger sister, who also had the corner 
of the mouth portrayed here. 

The downy beard was traced back to some disliked teachers. 
The facial expression as a whole showed a cynical smile which 
our artist attached to himself. 

The face on the left reminds Franz of his mother, though 
strikingly enough, he finds none of her characteristics on our 
pendant. Only the hair which covers the vertex and encircles 
the face on the front, might correspond to that of the mother. 
Somewhat later, the lips of the mother are also added. Our 
peculiar portrait artist remembers how the mother constantly 
reasoned with him when he began to read Nietzsche, as well as 
how some aunts reproached him at that time. Now it turns out 
that the younger sister is also indicated by the same lips. 

The nose bears a similarity to that of a gossiping neighbor. 
Once she mocked a boy who had a speech defect ; immediately 
after, a similar disturbance appeared in her own child. 

The whole face is deathly pale. The head on the right is 
associated with the hated sister. The hair over the frontal 
area comes to a point. The lower locks belong to a contentious, 
untidy maid, who, in spite of her church going, lived immorally 
and because of an illegitimate child, had to marry. The mouth 
also came from her. 

The hated younger sister resembles this maid in so far that 
she is likewise distinguished by sensuality, likes to quarrel and 
^gossip although she affects piety. 

The neck of the figure bears an ornament which is recognized 
as a boy's lace collar. The boy struck Franz on the head with a 
hatchet while framing a bench. Further, the neck indicates 
the goitres of several elderly relatives. 

So far, we have collected only the associations of our artist 
and have allowed none of our surmises to come to expression. 
The interpretation of our group is now easy for every one who 
has tested empirically the theory of psychoanalysis : Franz has 
cleverly put to death a number of hated persons, first of all, his 
father, mother and a sister, by (1) beheading, (2) hanging, (3) 



892 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

spitting (a spit runs through all the heads) and (4) crucifying 
them (the cross over the heads is interpreted expressly as refer- 
ence to the piety or hypocritical piousness of the relatives). 
Two brothers, an uncle, a bad neighbor and a comrade fall 
victims to the massacre or at least the father shall find the end 
of the two epileptics. 

Besides this sadistic procedure, all kinds of little mean- 
nesses come to expression. 

We turn now to the ornament which hangs down from the 
center of the upper border. Again we hold the object before 
Franz, though he may find it tedious, and collect his associa- 
tions. 

In front, we see a heart which the artist describes as hard, 
ironlike, wounded. It is indented and looks as if it would tilt 
forward so that one might see what is behind it. It must belong 
to the father. 

At the right, a second heart leans against the figure. "One 
can consider it as a withered breast devoid of love." The 
mother is indicated thereby. 

Between the two parts of the ornament, a strange creation is 
inserted which Franz cannot interpret. It seems to him, never- 
theless, that a wonderfully beautiful girl dwells opposite it. 
The association is inexplicable to him. The bow toward the 
left, he suddenly interprets as knee ; then only does he discover 
that he drew the girl inverted, standing on her head. The 
reader sees also at once that the ordinary and the gravid womb 
is plainly shown, at least they come into Franz's mind. 

The whole thing would represent a dragon. 

The explanation runs thus: On the hard-hearted father, 
leans the mother, deficient in love. Both have a secret in com- 
mon that is just unfolding. Into view comes the naked mother 
as girl and gravid woman. The CEdipus complex which is 
seldom absent in a psychoneurosis, may be clearly recognized : 
Franz is fiercely jealous of his father. In the love for the 
mother, so plainly colored with incest, lies the foundation of his 
neurosis. This reprehensible inclination is the dragon which 
threatens to devour him. 



ANALYSIS OF PORTRAIT 393 

Finally, the self-portrait came to discussion. The costume 
is that of a monk. Franz long cherished the wish to become a 
Buddhist monk. He imagined it as something "immense" to 
enter a cloister or to be merged into nothing. The monastic 
garb in which the artist disguises himself, is also that of the 
parricide in Schiller's "Tell." What that name signifies, 
Franz is unwilling to know for some time, which seems to him 
"curious." Suddenly he remembers that parricide is called 
' ' father-murder. ' ' 

The hand is that of one imploring mercy. The model is the 
publican who beat his breast, praying: "God be merciful to 
me a sinner. ' ' ( Luke, xvi. ) 

The little finger is drawn incorrectly. It occurs to Franz 
that the mistake aids in giving the hand the form of a male 
genital organ which is about to relax after masturbation. 

The bit of iron dependent from the chain penetrates the head 
of the artist and puts him in the same position as the members 
of the family killed in four ways. 

The meaning of the portrait may be given in the following 
sentence : I confess repentantly the guilt which I have brought 
upon myself as murderer of my father and relatives, as well as 
masturbator, implore mercy and will expiate my sins by my 
execution or as Buddhist monk sink into nothing. 

Thus the three chief points in the drawing contain: 

1. Guilt (murder of relatives, strengthened by masturbation) ; 

2. Cause (incestuous love for the mother, hate for the father 
and onanism) ; 3. Expiation. 

If one would summarize the essential content of our picture 
in a sentence, after the manner of a dream, one might say : 
Since I am consumed in a criminal, threatening love for the 
mother and wish a violent end for my nearest relatives, I 
repentantly confess myself worthy of death and will expiate 
my crimes by flight into the nothingness of the cloister. 

A month later, we analyzed the recent instigators of the 
portrait. Five days before the drawing, Franz visited an art- 
exhibition with his father and the hated sister. Before the 
pictures of Bocklin and Segantini, he became angry since he 



394* THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

was thinking of his bad relation to his parents. Bitter and 
with the intention of inflicting injury, he said before the father 
that it was a shame that they first let an artist be almost ruined 
and then admired his paintings. 

As he looked at himself in the glass next morning at eight 
o'clock, as he was making his toilette, the furrows running from 
the root of the nose straight over the forehead struck him. 
Even earlier, when he was still a boy, it occurred to him that his 
father drew these lines when he was filled with trouble and sor- 
row over his son. Now he asked himself what would the father 
say if he knew that his child of sorrows played truant. Two 
hours later, the inspiration suddenly came over our artist. 
He hastened immediately to buy a pad of paper and set to work. 
One sees how the lines of care on the father 's face are strongly 
emphasized. The sympathy striving for expression is dis- 
charged by the negative father-complex by means of a sadistic 
elaboration. The wrinkles on his own brow may represent a 
justification of the cruel deed : ' ' You have already caused me 
much more sorrow than I you ! ' ' 

Thus, this artistic conception displays, exactly like the dream, 
a recent root, while the complex plainly goes back to earliest 
childhood when the strictness of the otherwise excellent father 
influenced the Oedipus attitude for the worse. 

2. Requiem 

This gloomy oil painting (45 cm. x 37 cm.) was done some 
seven to eight months before. The sketch on the ground of ar- 
tistic intuition was dashed off in an hour, the whole uncom- 
monly effective picture took only eight hours. Franz remem- 
bered that while painting it, he often wished to disappear in 
the river which rushed past his home town * as at the time 
when domestic strife tormented him. Further, he was 
angered because they made so much of Christianity while his 
prayers remained unheard. He wished himself buried with 
Christianity. Then, however, he heard beautiful organ tones 
floating from the chapel he had just painted. 

* It occurs also in picture number 1. 




t -^ 















REQUIEM 



ANALYSIS OF PICTURE 395 

The chapel makes Franz think that the father might be 
present. Where, he does not know how to say. Still, the 
round window brings to his mind the eye of God surrounded by 
a triangle on Albrecht Diirer's etching "The Holy Family in 
Egypt. ' ' Further, it reminds him of one-eyed Wotan, as well 
as of Polyphemus who swallowed the companions of Odysseus 
in his cavern and sought to kill with rocks Odysseus fleeing 
from the cave into water. This eye is also that of his own 
father who looks down gloomily upon his son. 

The two cypress trees recall his two brothers, the two round 
trees, his sisters, of whom, one, the one whom we met in the 
preceding picture, was boasting how good a daughter she was, 
how she made herself useful to the parents, while she sought to 
get as many benefits as possible from them; the elder, nobler 
sister, however, corresponding to the tree on the right, does not 
behave so strikingly. The officiousness of the hated sister is 
expressed in the position of the left tree. 

The chapel next turns out to be the chapel of an institution 
for the incurable insane. The institution building had pre- 
viously been a cloister. There, a gifted artist lived, who, like 
Franz, painted and wrote poetry, until he was brought to this 
institution. And now, our subject confesses his burning desire 
to visit this man and be himself interned for life as insane. 
For hours at a time, the youth sat before the little church and 
dreamed of the happiness of being freed from all care in the 
adjacent asylum and continuing his splendid phantasies. Ke- 
peatedly, after some hours of day-dreaming, he went to distant 
places. The pointed church of the insane asylum is not on an 
island. The latter reminds of the castle "Wasserstelz in Gott- 
fried Keller's "Hadlaub. " The young troubadour was con- 
cealed in the castle so that he would not be discovered by the 
recruiting Count of Rapperswyl. His beloved came to Had- 
laub, brought him an infant and became his wife. This story 
led Franz to a beautiful girl of his home town who lived in an 
"exceedingly quiet" house off the street and pleased the father 
very well. Thus, Franz hoped as in Keller's novel, to get the 
better of his father. 



396 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

The interior of the chapel is brightly illuminated. "Wonder- 
ful music peals forth. Again, strangely enough, the pretty 
neighbor comes into Franz's mind, who had hidden himself 
behind the hearts (in previous picture) of the parents, as repre- 
sentation of the mother. Then our subject jumps to the Christ- 
mas festivals which he celebrated at home as a child. All the 
interest which he has in the picture, is concentrated on the light 
which streams from the church upon the dead. In connection 
with this, Franz imagines that his elder brother must still hide 
in the church. Finally, it occurs to him that he has always 
thought the same about the mother. At present, he has no love 
for the mother. 

The two crucifixes are the brothers ; the posts stick slantingly 
in the earth. Soon they will fall. The poplars (brothers) do 
not touch the church (mother) although they incline toward it 
(inartistically symmetrical). 

The corpse, naturally Franz himself, lies in front of the 
island with outstretched arms like the true Christ, much too 
large for the perspective. 

The three stars (circles) recall to mind again father, mother 
and hated sister (they are indistinct in the reproduction). 

By way of explanation, it should be said that the father is 
trustee of the church (president of the church association) and 
that Franz 'is quite familiar with the expression, "Mother 
Church." 

The oil-painting expresses the death-wish and its origin in 
the boy's attitude toward his family. Franz wishes to die and 
as corpse to draw to himself the mother love denied him in life. 
The other masochistic, likewise pleasurably toned, wish, points 
to his living henceforth entirely in the church ( = mother) . 
The parallel longing for the insane asylum seems thus to be a 
desire for the mother-womb. In both places, he is hidden, 
escaped from reality, in a certain sense, dead. 

This phantasy corresponds on one hand to active cruelty, on 
the other hand, to self -aggrandisement. In the first respect, we 
notice the death-wish against the father, mother and younger 
sister (the three stars), the identification of the father with 



ANALYSIS OF PICTURE 397 

Polyphemus, in whom, Odysseus (Franz), before swimming 
away, bored out his one eye, the representation of the brother 
destined for downfall, the ridicule of the officious sister. A 
tendency to grandiosity is suggested in the desire to be like the 
gifted insane patient, to supplant his father in the esteem 
of the village and especially to be discovered and mourned by 
the mother as the great, true, crucified savior beside the false 
messiahs, the brothers. 

As in the self-portrait, the artist compares himself to the 
father by wrinkled brow, so here, there is brought to attention 
a wish-comparison which is not painted. During the drawing, 
Franz hears wonderful music proceeding from the church. 
The (hysterical or catatonic) mother hallucinated similar 
music, formerly often, now occasionally. 

One notices the religious sublimation of the death-wish and 
the phantasies directed toward the relatives of the family. 

Some weeks after the * ' Requiem, ' ' Franz did a very pretty 
drawing, to which he gave the significant title, "Let the Dead 
bury their Dead. ' ' A drowned youth is floating near the bank 
of a stream lined by poplars. A veiled woman is holding her 
hands over the dead body as if blessing it. The artist has no 
difficulty in recognizing himself and mother in the two figures ; 
the mother is characterized in the title as spiritually dead. 
Later, the anger advances even to wishing the death of the erotic 
object passionately loved in secret. In the Aare which flows by 
his home village, Franz has long wished to go to sleep. Every 
swimming bath becomes a death orgy. The river becomes a 
mother symbol and assumes the role which is played in the 
other paintings by mother-womb, cave, insane asylum and 
cloister (compare Ibsen: "Die Frau vom Meere" [The "Woman 
of the Sea] ) . 

3. Madness 

Pen and ink drawing, SGi/o cm. x 26 em., drawn five months 
before the analysis. 

The picture as a whole reminds Franz of the magnitude, the 
violence of madness, of his visit to the insane asylum, in which 



898 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

he revelled in the sight of the patients, especially their eyes. 
Opposed to the powerful wish to be insane, is the clear insight 
into the absurdity and inferiority of the desire. 

The eyes of the figure first arrest the attention. They betray 
the insanity, but also remind the patient of his own eyes as 
they look in moments of enthusiasm. 

The mouth shows his own under lip. The reason for this 
substitution, I cannot give. The creases at the corners of the 
mouth are those of an uncle, with whose cane, the patient was 
whipped because he would not eat the oat soup. On that oc- 
casion, he called out to his father : ' ' Strike me dead ! ' ' 

The finger under the chin is at once named as sexual member 
which is trying to get to the lips. Franz is thinking of an act 
of masturbation. To the same gain of pleasure, lead the ser- 
pents which at the same time express something devilish. 

To the weeping woman, Franz associates first himself who is 
complaining, then the cemetery which is near his parents' 
house, then the sister and the "wonderfully beautiful chapel 
of the insane asylum, thus the mother, ' ' 

The hand is abnormally large. It holds and controls all the 
threads which run over the curtain (the world). It can press 
all together. It belongs to Franz. 

The whirling lines represent "downward flowing dirt from 
which strength proceeds so that all is illuminated." Franz 
sees himself and his mother in the midst of the same pleasant 
filth of improper sexual activity. 

The perpendicular, snake-like figures, drawn from below up- 
ward, are rising from unknown dark filth, attracted by the 
light. (I cannot interpret them with certainty. They are 
caused by the folds of the curtain. Perhaps they refer to the 
sexual instincts which, set free by open sexual pleasure (see 
below) ascend from their hiding place). 

The inscription, "I know," relates to the insight into the 
secret of his own condition. 

History of the picture. 

The picture was drawn at the residence of an elderly gentle- 
man who overwhelmed Franz with attentions, invited him on 




MADNESS 



RESULTS OF ANALYSIS OF PICTURES 399 

long journeys and promised to pay the expense of his academic 
education. Shortly before the sketch was made, our subject 
made the discovery that the man was homosexual and had bad 
intentions. Upon leaving the room, as the youth was going in 
advance, the man seized him and pressed himself against him. 
This repelled the surprised youth who decided to separate from 
the old sinner. At the table of the homosexual, he began to 
draw the picture without knowing what would come of it; 
usually his inspirations appeared to him like a shot, clearly 
defined. 

Interpretation. 

Disgusted by the homosexual attack, Franz experienced the 
most intense introversion. Dementia prascox is excellently 
symbolized by his drawing: The patient withdraws from the 
outer world behind his curtain, revels in the wildest auto- 
eroticism (masturbation and masochistic pleasure in the suf- 
fering of the mother) and incest, as the all-wise one who 
(paranoiacally) controls the destiny of the world with master- 
ful hand. Franz states that such trains of thought have re- 
peatedly filled his mind, though not during the composition of 
the sketch. 

Space forbids reproducing here the whole analysis which 
dealt almost exclusively with drawings and poems, as well as 
(quite incidentally) with the life condition of the youth who 
was plainly gravely threatened with insanity.* Also the gain 
for the psychology of art cannot be presented here. It may 
only be pointed out in this regard that the introverted one, 
informed of the seat of his trouble, immediately sought with 
astounding energy to free himself from it. The subsequent 
pictures showed with great clearness the different steps in the 
struggle. The previous motives were again taken up accord- 
ing to the law of the remolding of complexes to be discussed 
later (Chapter 17, II) and elaborated in an opposite, life- 
giving sense until finally the rebirth of the rescued hero cele- 
brated the triumph with splendid decision. The very inde- 

* It is published in the second year of the journal, "Imago" (1913) 
under the title : "Die Entstehung der kunstler. Inspiration." 



400 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

pendent youth felt healthy and happy but from that time on, 
would hear nothing of further analysis. When, some months 
later, external relations of life shaped themselves unfavorably, 
his mood suffered a clouding, which, however, occasioned no 
relapse into the earlier introversion. "With great energy, the 
young artist solved his life problem, got himself into the long 
desired position and has since worked industriously and well 
in the best of health and in good relations to his parents. His 
whole attitude toward life underwent an entire change. 
Whether the cure of the sorely threatened individual is a defi- 
nite one, the future will show. After many experiences, there 
has been to date no occasion for fear. The analysis of draw- 
ings which were made unintentionally, as for example, during 
a lesson or consultation, is interesting. 

10. Poetry 

This section also will interest the educator. The pedagogue 
experienced in psychoanalysis can draw many valuable con- 
clusions concerning the mental status of his pupils from their 
essays. Even in play there is a bit of poetry which betrays 
the repressed instinct.* 

That the greatest poetry comes forth from hidden depths of 
the mind, has already been mentioned in Schiller's words 
(page 8). Its automatic character is, at least in regard to 
the great conception, even though not in its later elaboration, 
indisputable. Goethe confesses: "Every productivity of the 
highest kind, every great thought which brings fruits and has 
results, is in no one 's power and is elevated above all power . . . 
it is related to the demoniacal power which, endowed with 
superior force, does with a man what it wills, and to which he 
yields unconsciously,^ while he thinks he is acting on his own 
initiative. ' ' J Goethe relates that he wrote down most of his 
poems at night as in a dream ; he sprang out of bed to his desk 

* Freud, Der Dichter u. d. Pliantasieren. Kl. Schr. II, p. 197 S. 
t Italicised by me. 

t Cited by S. Kovaes, Introjektion, Projektion und Einfiihlung. 2^)1. 
II, 263. Eank, Inzest-Motiv ; p. 475. 



POETS AND UNCONSCIOUS COMPLEXES 401 

and without pushing the sheet of paper straight, wrote the 
poem from beginning to end, diagonally, for which purpose he 
used a pencil in order not to be awakened by the pen,* It is 
certain that Schiller was found lying on the floor twitching 
convulsively as he was busy with the scene between Eboli and 
the prince, t Similar half -pathological symptoms are reported 
of Goethe, Kleist, Turgenieff and A. de Musset.| 

The content of the poetic production also proves to be a 
manifestation. In the hero, we recognize, often without dif- 
ficulty, the poet himself: Goethe is the original of Tasso and 
Antonio, Clavigo and Carlos ; he lurks in Faust and Mephis- 
topheles, both are personified libido characteristics. Schiller 
treats in the majority of his great dramas, in the Raubern, in 
Fiesko, in Don Carlos, in Kabale und Liebe, in Wallenstein, in 
Tell, of the struggle with the father, usually in the form of a 
father-substitute, because he himself suffered under a f ather- 
complex.ll Grillparzer describes in many works the man 
divided between two women, Richard Wagner, the woman 
divided between two men passing over to the new-comer, be- 
cause both authors thereby expressed their own erotic situa- 
tions: Grillparzer remained for a lifetime devoted to the 
Frohlich sisters, of whom he was engaged to Kathi to the end 
of his life ; he could marry neither from inner reasons.^ 
Wagner has Senta go over to the Dutchman, Elizabeth to Tann- 
hauser, Sieglinde to Sigmund, Isolde to Tristan, Eva to Stolz- 
ing, Briinhilde to Siegfried, because he himself desired the love 
which prejudiced a third person (Mathilde Wesendonk, 
Kosima von Biilow). This tendency, on the other hand, may 
be derived, as Max Graf § probably did, from the fact that 
Wagner, who lost his father when six months old and was pas- 
sionately fond of the stepfather whom he soon gained, the 
comedian Geyer, thought of the wished-for possibility that he 

* Stekel, Dichtung und Neurose, p. 3. 

t Rank, Inzest-Motiv, p. 476. 

J Same, p. 477. 

II Same, p. 87 ff. 

1[Like Goethe lie remained attached to his mother (see above p. 120). 

§ Graf, Rich. Wagner im "fliegenden Hollander," p. 28 ff. 



402 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

might be a child of Geyer. Ibsen's constant handling of the 
marriage problem may be elucidated from the history of the 
poet's marital conditions.* Konrad Ferdinand Meyer writes: 
"I use the form of historical novel simply and solely in order 
to embody in it my personal experiences and emotions, . . . 
because it gives me a better disguise. In all persons of Pes- 
cara, even in the common Morone, there is something of K. F. 
Meyer." t 

The analysis has also attacked the psychological riddle of 
poetic art. I mention the problem of Hamlet because of its 
high pedagogical importance. Freud says in one place that 
Hamlet in no way represents the type of the dreainer made ill 
by the specters of his thought for we see the prince act vigor- 
ously twice (killing of Polonius and the two courtiers). 
Rather, Hamlet who is capable of doing everything else, can- 
not accomplish his revenge on the murderer and successor of his 
father because he committed the same crimes in his phantasies 
and so covered himself with guilt. J The English psychiatrist, 
Prof. Jones, has elaborated || this argument in a monograph 
which excites the delight of the historians of literature by its 
profoundness and lucidity ; Otto Rank illuminates the problem 
in its connection with other creations of Shakespeare.^ Tlie 
judgment of these works will only be given for certain by the 
analysis of living Hamlets, of whom the educator, unfortu- 
nately, knows not a few. 

The reader will find an enormously extensive and most inter- 
esting material in the monumental work of Otto Rank : ' ' Das 
Inzest-Motiv in Dichtung und Sage," (Elements of a Psychol- 
ogy of Poetic Creation; 1912). 

"With the many problems of the psychology of art, the solv- 
ing of which is rendered possible by psychoanalysis, we do not 
have to concern ourselves. Yet on the other hand, it may be 
pointed out in this connection that poetry, like every manif esta- 

* Same, p. 27. 

t A. Frey, K. F. Meyer, Stuttgart, 1900, p. 284. 
-$ Freud, Traumdeutung, p. 192 f. 
II Jones, D. Problem d. Hamlet u. d. Odipus-Komplex. 
ilRank, Inzest-Motiv, pp. 45 ff, 204-233. 



POETIC CREATION AND THE UNCONSCIOUS 403 

tion, represents an attempt on the part of the artist (painter, 
author, poet, etc.) to free himself from the demands of his 
complexes. Goethe kills himself as Werther and thereby 
guards himself against suicide. Complete happiness, absolute 
salvation for a free life is seldom really attained by the poet. 
He remains a tragic hero. Schiller testifies: "How feeble 
still is the highest grandeur of a poet against the thought to 
live happy. ' ' Richard Wagner makes the shocking confession : 
* ' Dear friend ! Some thoughts regarding art often come over 
me now and I cannot usually avoid finding that if we had life, 
we would have needed no art. Art begins just at the point 
where life ceases ; where nothing more is present, there we call 
in the art: I wished. I do not understand at all how a truly 
happy person can come to the thought : only in life can one 
create art, — is our art not for the rest merely a confession of 
our impotence ? " * Another time, he says : ' ' Yes, to be al- 
ways in strife, never to attain to complete calmness of soul, to be 
always baited, enticed and repulsed, that is really the ever 
bubbling life process, out of which the artist 's inspiration bursts 
forth like a flower of despair. ' ' f 

Although the poetic creation is a manifestation, the artist 
is not, as Stekel asserts, a neurotic. Rank rightly says "that 
the artist 's achievement, which acts both as a relief for him and 
at the same time contributes something of great value to society, 
is always so sharply diflPerentiated from the incapacity for 
achievement of the neurotic that even the most intimate rela- 
tionship in the prerequisite conditions cannot obliterate these 
plainly visible distinctions, " $ 

I conclude with two quotations from Hebbel who here again 
shows himself to be a thorough student of humanity : In the 
passage quoted at length on page 116, where the contribution 
of the unconscious to artistic creation, the infantilism, the re- 
gression, and the repression are so well pictured, the poet la- 
ments the fact that "even intelligent men do not cease from 



* Rank, p. 482. 
t Same, p. 482. 
i Same, p. 479. 



404! THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

quarreling with the poet over his choice of material, as they 
call it, and thereby show that they always conceive of the 
artistic creation, the first stage of which, the conception, lies 
deep below consciousness and at times recedes to the dimmest 
distance of childhood (regression), as a making, even though it 
be a noble one."* The other quotation is: "My idea that 
dream and poetry are identical finds ever new confirmation. ' ' t 

11. The Moral Manifestations 

The psychoanalytic investigations concerning the moral con- 
sciousness and its scientific regulation are unfortunately not 
yet far enough advanced to allow us to devote a long section to 
them. Only two investigations are at hand: my analyses of 
hate and reconciliation which appeared in 1910, furnished the 
proof that hate, by one-sided direction and fixation of interest, 
impoverishes the personality, destroys the mental power by 
growing dependence upon dark compulsion, cripples the will, 
weakens the moral energy by volatilization into autistic dreams, 
strengthens sadism and masochism and isolates the individual. 
Eeconciliation, on the other hand, removes all these injurious 
influences and creates sublimation.J Evil proves thereby to be 
biologically useless, good to be the healthy condition. Natur- 
ally, this individualistic mode of consideration is not the only 
one which is ethically demanded. Into consideration there 
comes that which is hygienically approved for the community, 
to which the individual life has, under certain circumstances, to 
be sacrificed. 

In the year 1912, there appeared an important investigation 
by Karl Fortmiiller, entitled "Psychoanalyse und Ethik." || 
Starting from Adler's fundamental hypothesis, he seeks to 
explain the ethical imperative as a defence process erected 

* Hebbel, Preface to "Maria Magdalena," cited by Ranlc, Inzestm 
p. 125. 

t Hebbel, Tagebiicher, June 3, 1847, cited by Stekel, Dichtung und 
Neurose, p. 2. 

t Pfister, Hass und Versohnung, p. 46 f. 

II K. Fortmiiller, Psa. u. Ethik. Eine vorlaufige Untersuchung, 
Munich, 1912. 



PSYCHOANALYSIS AND ETHICS 405 

against the feeling of inferiority ( Minder wertigkeitgefiihl). 
The demands made upon the child for order and subordination 
strengthen in him the feeling of inferiority which is now re- 
acted not only in defiance and passive submission but also by 
the acceptance of that external command into his own will. 
The feeling of inferiority is thereby overcompensated, however, 
in that this inner imperative is expected of everyone as a moral 
command. A tendency toward assurance is also manifested by 
the moral consciousness to the extent that the imposed prohi- 
bitions form a defence against the covetous instincts and their 
dangers. 

It seems to me that Fortmiiller has developed his ideas, which 
are interesting and may be correct for certain cases, in a one- 
sided manner. "When the father gives an eight months-old 
child a little command, it may perhaps playfully acknowledge 
his greatness, yet the reaction is certainly not primarily a 
heightened feeling of inferiority but one of joy. And thus are 
many, even if not all, moral emotions, both admonishing and 
warning, aroused on the path of pleasure and indeed so that 
the feeling of greatness, the pride, is strengthened. Still, 
Fortmiiller indicates in very commendable manner dangers in 
the moral education. 

Psychoanalysis has led to a number of moral facts without 
intending to deal with ethical considerations, by the duty of 
healing the sick. We spoke of lying, stealing, love and hate, 
Don Juanism caused by complexes. We are not dealing merely 
with pathological processes. 

I want to point out here only one phenomenon especially im- 
portant for pedagogy, by which, the whole direction of life, the 
greatest part of the happiness of life or of the tragedy of life 
is determined. I mean the plan of life conditioned upon com- 
plexes regarding its moral character. We have already dis- 
cussed the life tendency in general on page 385. We have often 
seen the whole life devoted to the service of a completely un- 
conscious tendency. We heard of the place-seeker who elabor- 
ated for a lifetime an infantile inferiority complex and wished 
to compel from humanity the recognition which his father had 



406 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

denied him (110) ; of the Don Juan who sought unknowingly 
to gratify his high emotional needs in his erring love and 
thereby exposed his own life and the lives of others to the great- 
est dangers and hardships (329). We called attention to the 
avaricious, over-exact, analerotic individual, totally incapable 
of conjugal love (200), to the homosexual individual and his 
peculiar life development (202), to the choice of vocation de- 
termined by complexes (326), to the unlucky fellow (110), to 
the quarrelsome individual (246), to the fundamental themes 
of the poets (parricide in Schiller, the woman between two men 
in Wagner, the man between two women in Grillparzer, etc.), 
to the predetermination in religion occasioned by repressions 
of childhood (Zinzendorf, etc.). One might refer further to 
the reformer who will quit scores with his feeling of guilt by a 
zealous combat against immorality (385), to the army of reac- 
tion builders (321), etc. 

Still a number of other unconscious plans of life may be 
named. The knowledge of such connections imposes mighty 
tasks upon the pedagogue. The whimsical eccentricity in the 
choice of a vocation, often so mysterious, now becomes compre- 
hensible and instead of belaboring the youth by pressure and 
compulsion with tiresome lectures which do not annul the inner 
need, he will banish the illusion analytically in such a way that 
the pupil may breathe again in freedom. For the boy who is 
absorbed in a burning passion for the problem of flying, he will, 
if the wish cannot be sublimated to valuable achievements at 
the proper moment, analyze a flying-dream ; for the asjoirant 
for the stage who has little talent, he will analyze an exhibition 
dream. For the youth who is excellently suited for the pro- 
fession of medicine and shows great inclination toward this pro- 
fession, but is restrained by aversion for wounds and corpses, he 
dissolves the inhibition by analysis. The man imprisoned in a 
"life-lie," to use the expression of Bertschinger * adopted by 
Ibsen, who wishes to make believe that he is an angel of purity, 

* 0. Bertschinger, U. Gelegenheitsursachen gewisser Neurosen u. Psy- 
chosen. Allg. Zschr. f. Psychiatrie u. psychisch-gerichtl. Medizin. Vol. 
69 (1912), pp. 588-617. 



ADLER'S THEORIES 407 

gallantry, magnanimity, and in this feigned role, receives 
severe injury, he enables to fight an honest battle against his 
internal enemy. 

For the first investigation of a plan of life, we are indebted 
to Sigmund Freud, who, under the unpretentious title, "Eine 
Kindheitserinnerung des Leonardo da Vinci" (A Childhood 
Memory of Leonardo da Vinci) traced the peculiar life develop- 
ment of the great artist and thinker back to infantile sexual in- 
fluences. Alfred Adler institutes far-reaching investigations 
of the theory of the plan of life in his book, " Uber den nervosen 
Charakter" (Concerning the Nervous Character). According 
to Adler, every neurotic and psychotic individual is under the 
rule of a uniform life plan which proceeds towards the mast- 
ering of the feeling of insufficiency. ' ' The character traits, es- 
pecially the neurotic ones, serve as psychic means and forms 
of expression for bringing about the guidance of the life opin- 
ions, acquiring a place, gaining a fixed point in the fluctuations 
of existence, in order to attain the final goal, the feeling of 
superiority. ' ' * Thus the neurotic creates assurances for him- 
self. ''To these assurances belong also the fixation and 
strengthening of character traits which, in the chaos of life, 
form working guides and thus lessen the uncertainty." t 
"Feeling of guilt and conscience are fictitious guiding lines of 
caution, like the religious emotions, and serve the tendency 
toward assurance." $ ''Still more firmly does the nervous in- 
dividual keep his god, his idol, his ideal personality in view and 
cling to his guiding line, thereby losing sight of reality, while 
the healthy individual is constantly prepared to give up this 
assistance, these crutches, and reckon unprejudiced with real 
ity. The healthy individual also, can and will create his divin- 
ity, feel himself drawn upward, will however, never lose sight 
of reality, and calculates with it as soon as the moment of ac- 
tion and effort arrives. Hence the nervous individual is under 
the rule of a fictitious plan of life." || 

Aside from the previously mentioned one-sidedness with 

* Adler, Nerv. Charakter, p. 8. $ Same, p. 25. 

t Same, p. 14. || Same, p. 36. 



408 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

which Adler makes the limitation of the ego-instinct condi- 
tioned on organic changes, the foundation of the plan of life, 
and purposely denies the erotic influences, aside also from the 
insufficient religious psychological construction, Adler 's theory 
of the fictitious guiding line is highly fruitful and valuable. 
But it must be qualified by a consideration which allows the in- 
stincts for self-preservation and for perpetuation of the race 
to have their rights. 

12. Religious Manifestations 

Psychoanalysis performs two services for religion: one in 
the domain of religious psychology and one in that of biology. 
It helps to understand religion and to estimate its significance. 
On the other hand, psychoanalysis gives no explanation of the 
content of truth in religion, although it eliminates neurotic 
forms of religion which do not hold their own against the 
reality-thinking, much quicker and more surely than all his- 
torical and systematic theology. 

We have repeatedly had occasion to disclose the origin of 
religious experiences. Page 36 crown of thorns, 37 vision of 
angel, 38 vision of devil, 66 anxiety -hysteria as the effect of im- 
proper religious instruction, 71 obsessional praying, 76 prayer 
with negative result, 83 laughing during religious services, 83, 
92, 135 correspondence between profane and religious love, 93 
disturbance of prayer, 92 piousness, loss of the adoration of 
Jesus, stoicism, 129 pantheism, 136 madonna fanaticism, 145 
religious scruples, 194 disappearance of love as result of reli- 
gious influences, 203 oscillation between religious and homo- 
sexual emotion, 213 anger against God, 247 phantasies concern- 
ing the face and figure of God, 252 religious explanation of a 
sexual wish in a dream, 326 longing to change churches, 275f 
the symbol in religion, 327 dogmatism, 255 disjection in re- 
ligion, 331 clothes fetichism in connection with religious con- 
version, estrangement from God, turning to Jesus, 379 juvenile 
hallucination of a devil. I will add a somewhat complicated 
but highly instructive example : 

I was asked by a gentleman of excellent character, aged 



RELIGIOUS MANIPESTATIONS 409 

thirty-nine, member of a Christian communion, who was on the 
point of joining a new sect, to explain a number of passages in 
Daniel and the Apocalypse. Naturally the attempt failed at 
the first citation. Apparently diverting, I learned that the 
man, some weeks before, after attending a religious lecture, had 
felt a kind of sticking pain in his stomach at the moment he 
asked himself if he were not sinning by denying the devil. At 
the same time, a violent anxiety appeared which compelled 
Bible reading for hours at a time for the purpose of overcoming 
the anxiety. The words of the demoniacs at Gadara occupied 
much of his attention: "Why do you come to punish us be- 
fore the time ? ' ' — a speech which had caused him much thought 
since his sixteenth year but now had become an obsessional idea. 
The so-called prophetic (apocalyptic) part of the Bible, as well 
as the observation of the Sabbath and the refraining from pork, 
exerted on him an irresistible magic. Withdrawing from 
analysis, he actually transferred to the sect. Only after 
months did I obtain a continuation of the analysis. Then it 
came to light that the man, in addition to the obsession over the 
demon question named above, was obsessed by the saying: 
' ' The night cometh when no man can work. ' ' The prophetic 
part of the Bible was the most important to him so that he pub- 
lished a very definite plan of God which culminated in the 
second advent of Christ. The observance of the Sabbath was 
sacred to him as exact observance of divine command. He was 
especially impressed by the statement that the dead should 
sleep until the second coming of Christ. TJie belief in the devil, 
previously denied, became very important to him. One while, 
he feared to have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost but 
could not decide in what this consisted. Now, he felt, after long 
distress, happy and healthy. The analysis had therefore, a 
priori, little prospect of changing the manner of thought. 

Whence came these phenomena ? When twelve years old, the 
boy practiced masturbation, which, three years later, after he 
had read a warning article, weighed heavily on his conscience. 
The pains in his stomach appeared at this time, never to dis- 
appear again for good. For a half year, he successfully fast- 



410 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ened his hands at night with a cord. In his sixteenth year, 
three sayings frequently occupied his thoughts, among them 
the absurd song : 

"To combat the Kingdom of Lust 
Be my wisdom, Highest! 
It is a poison for our life 
And turns our joys to pain." 

Further the maxim : 

"Everything in its place 
Saves much time and many an evil word." 

Finally the saying of the demoniacs of Gadara already men- 
tioned. In the analysis, it proved that all these sayings had 
attained such great emphasis because of their relation to the 
sexual complex. The two last named, attained their obses- 
sional character because they expressed allegorically the un- 
pleasant sexual function and its results. 

As a young fellow, he had been disgusted with the brothels 
into which he had allowed himself to be enticed. In his mar- 
riage, his wife compelled him to practice coitus interruptus. 
The result was, as described on page 208, extreme partiality 
for nature-cure methods so long as the improper marital inter- 
course lasted (over-compensation for the unnatural sexual 
practice) but only so long. 

Passing over the interesting dilemmas of the period imme- 
diately following, I will mention the circumstances under 
which the transfer into a new communion occurred. As a re- 
sult of his religious sublimation, the patient had been free from 
his old hysterical pains in the stomach for two years but showed 
during this period a nervous tic. Some months after the death 
of his wife, the demons' question: "Why do you come to 
punish us before the time 1 ' ' again gained control over him, an 
expression of the sexuality violently raging within him and the 
damming up of his sublimated compensation. He became dis- 
satisfied with the sect which he had previously loved, because 
he thought he discovered in it anxiety over death. Hence, 
figuratively expressed, his eroticism flowed back into infantile 



RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS 411 

channels, the old complex-functions awakened and sought new 
gratification. Such a gratification, the new sect afforded. Its 
teaching gratified him for many reasons which corresponded to 
his complexes. I will name only a few : 1. The Apocalyptic 
plan of salvation in God includes death, after that, the sleep 
of the dead in the night when no one can work, thus where the 
"premature punishment" is ended, and finally the second 
advent of Christ. We have recognized the sexual necessity, the 
unsatisfied libido, as foundation of the obsessions, hence the 
ideas of death-sleep and of the parusia as recipients of the com- 
plex-gratification become comprehensible to us as expectations 
of sexual peace and later of gratification. The second advent 
was thus a sublimation of the wish for a second marriage. 

2. The reality of the devil corresponded to the experience of 
the tormenting eroticism as the second advent of Christ satis- 
fied the longing for a second happy marriage. 

3. The Biblical orthodoxy was a symptom of the anxiety-neu- 
rosis (compare Freud, "Zwangshandlungen und Religion- 
siibung." Sammlung kleiner Schriften zur Neurosenlehre, 2d 
Part) as the patient himself admits. For the estimation of 
orthodoxy in history, such cases are very important. 

4. The observance of the Sabbath, of the tithes, of the re- 
fraining from pork, form, like the fanaticism in the practice 
of the nature-cure method, in its time, an overcompensation 
which would make up for the ethical deficiency in the marriage. 
For the rest, the patient was (like another of my patients) as 
result of sexual repression, a vegetarian; so much the more 
willingly did he now submit to the religious demands of absti- 
nence. The prohibition of meat commonly corresponds to 
sexual denial. 

The mentally weak, though studious, man agreed with me 
point by point. But he felt happy in his piety. He left his 
lucrative post for the sake of the Sabbath. A few years later, 
the official who had previously been well off financially, was 
ruined. Concerning his inner state, I know nothing. 

We see how well that the sublimated form of religion was 
adapted to the primary fixation of the libido. Very often, the 



412 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

repressed unmoral material returns in the center of the re* 
ligion, for example, in the disgusting masochism of many as- 
cetics and the sadism of many judges of witches and heretics 
(above page 311). Novalis justly remarks: "It is remark- 
able that the association of sensual pleasure, religion and 
cruelty and the common tendency of these has not been noticed 
long ago. " * E. T. A. Hoffmann puts these words in the mouth 
of his "Medardus": "Thus I spake of the wonderful mys- 
teries of religion in glowing pictures, the deep significance of 
which was the voluptuous frenzy of the most ardent, longing 
love."t 

One must, however, guard against wishing to consider re- 
ligion as altogether only higher directed libido. Kant based it 
on the ethical demand, understanding God as the real basis of 
the moral postulate. The metaphysics of practically all great 
philosophers from Plato and Aristotle down to Leibnitz, Hebbel 
and Herbart, indeed even to Wundt, Theodor Lipps and Riehl 
arrived at a concept of God by way of reality-thinking, which 
concept agrees in essential outlines with the Christian one. 

Psychoanalysis in no way violates the claims of truth of the 
Christian religion as such. Of course, as already noticed, it 
destroys many spurious religious experiences by showing the 
illusory complex-function at the bottom of these. It must do 
this in order to banish misfortune. It would be all too small 
for Christianity to think that harm is to be feared for its future 
from analysis. The new method teaches us rather to under- 
stand many a form of current piety rejected as monstrous or 
ridiculed as laughable, to consider them causally in their 
necessity and estimate their deeper meaning. It comes to the 
assistance of religious psychology which is in its infancy. Even 
to-day, it has given us the solutions for a mass of myths, re- 
ligious hallucinations, inspirations,^ prohibitions, bizarre new 
formations, ceremonials, ancient enigmas like automatic glosso- 
lalia, etc. And it will accomplish still much more. 

* E. Heilborn, Novalis, p. 160. 

t E. T. A. Hoffmann, Elixiere des Teufels, p. 73. 

$Pfister, Glossolalie. Jahrb. Ill, p. 440. 



VALUE OF RELIGION 41S 

Psychoanalysis also teaches us to estimate the value of re- 
ligion anew. I confess that the beauty and the blessing of a 
healthy, ethically pure piety have only become overwhelmingly 
clear to me from the investigations here described. Religion, 
in favorable eases, guards the libido repelled by the rude, avari- 
cious reality, against conversion into hysterical physical sj^mp- 
toms and against introversion into anxiety, melancholia, obses- 
sional phenomena, etc. Freud speaks of the "extraordinary 
increase in neuroses since the decline of religions. " * I would 
much rather have unfortunate people whom I cannot really cure 
by analysis, in an extreme sect or a cloister than in a psycho- 
neurosis. Of course there is also much neurotic misery in 
cloisters and religious communities. 

Stekel also attributes to religion a high ethical mission: 
** Religion serves to bind these (original) impulses of hate in 
the form of anxiety (tendencies toward assurance of Adler). 
The inhibitions increase to consciousness of guilt when the indi- 
vidual does not succeed in utilizing his hate ; thereby he ration- 
alizes it, converts it into love or sublimates it. " t 

"We have already discussed how Jung assigned to religion 
the task of making fruitful for ethical achievements, the forces 
bound up in "incestuous" constellations (299). Of Chris- 
tianity, he says : " In a time, when a great part of humanity 
is beginning to deny Christianity, it is well worth while to per- 
ceive clearly why it has really been accepted. It has been 
accepted to escape eventually the grossness of antiquity. If we 
lay it aside, then the unbridled license is already at hand, of 
which life in modern large cities gives us an impressive fore- 
taste. The step thither is no progress but a retrogression. . . . 
To-day, the individual feels himself inhibited by the hypocrit- 
ical public opinion and hence prefers to lead a secret life apart, 
publicly however, to represent the moral code ; things might be 
quite different however, if people in general should find the 
moral mask too foolish and should become conscious of how 
dangerously their beasts lay in wait for one another; then a 

* Freud, D. zukiinftigen Chancen d. Psa, Zbl. I, p. 5. 
t Stekel, Sprache d. Traumes, p. 53. 



414 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

debauch of depravity might readily sweep over humanity — 
that is the dream, the wish-dream of the morally restricted per- 
son of the present : he forgets the distress which robs the human 
being of breath and which with harsh hand would interrupt 
every pleasure."* The religious myth, Jung calls "one of 
the greatest and most important institutions of humanity, 
which with deceptive symbols gives man security and strength 
against being overwhelmed by the vastness of the universe. ' ' t 
He wishes therefore to carefully retain the religious symbol 
"after unavoidable elimination of certain antiquated parts, as 
postulate or as Transcendental theory and also as object of in- 
struction but fill it with new content in such measure as the 
status of the cultural life of the time demands." J This is a 
position which has also been assumed by Wundt || and Eucken ^ 
and especially by Paulsen. The latter says, for example: 
"The great symbols which already interpret the meaning of 
the world to the child, again become vivid. The systems of 
the philosophers, the theories of the scholars, the systems of 
the theologians pass away, as between evening and morning 
the clouds come and go, while the great symbols remain like 
the stars of heaven when they, too, are momentarily hidden 
from view by the passing clouds. ' ' § Many theologians are of 
similar opinion, for example, A. E. Biedermann, Lipsius,** 
Rauwenhoff,tt Trotltseh.JJ 

While psychoanalysis may disclose the emptiness of religious 
errors, it is helpful to a healthy piety which increases moral 
strength. It has compelled more than one physician, who, in 
the bonds of materialistic thinking had discarded religion as a 
bygone superstition, to adopt a more just estimation, yes, even 

* Jung, Wandlungen. Jahrb. IV, p. 273. 
t Same, p. 275. 
t Same, p. 276. 

II Wundt, Syst. d. Philos. pp. 668 f, 674. 
II Eucken, Wahrheitsgehalt d. Relig. p. 405 ff. 
§ Paulsen, Einleitung in d. Philos. p. 340. 
** Lipsius, Lehrb. der er-prot. Dogmatik, Paragraph, § 72 ff. 
tfRauwenhoff, Rel.-phil. p. 468 f. 

$t E. Troeltsch, D. Absoluth. d. Chr. u. d. Rel.-gesch., Tubingen. 1912, 
p. 149. 



VALUE OF RELIGION 415 

admiration, for the mental phenomenon. Where, outside of 
psychoanalytic circles, would you find a society of physicians, 
teachers and theologians which would discuss the religious 
problem in a series of evenings devoted to earnest conferences ? 
To me, it is a mystery how anxious souls can fear damage to 
religion and morality from psychoanalysis. How closely the 
results of the latter stand to the commands of the Gospel, we 
will show later. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE MEANING OF THE MANIFESTATIONS 

In manifestations as a whole, we may differentiate a psycho- 
logical and a biological significance. 

1, The Psychological Meaning 

(a) in general 

1. The Manifestation as Wishfulfillment 

In every manifestation, we recognized as compelling force 
an instinct which acted along indirect ways instead of master- 
ing reality or adapting itself to reality. So far as every in- 
stinct proceeds to gratification, we may unhesitatingly call 
every manifest symptom, the pathological as well as the normal, 
for example the dream, a gratification of the complex. In so 
doing, it would naturally not be declared that an actual gratifi- 
cation should occur but it is at least striven for. 

So far as the instinct is directed toward an object unattain- 
able at the moment, it becomes a wish. Since with every grati- 
fication of instinct, pleasure is released, even though this is not 
the direct goal, it yields a gain of pleasure. 

According to the first aspect, every manifestation must be 
a wishfulfillment, since gratification of instinct occurs only 
when the longed-for thing becomes at least relatively reality. 

That which we would expect from our insight into the laws of 
complex-reaction, Freud found substantiated by direct analysis 
of neurotic phenomena. His statement that every dream rep- 
resents a wish as fulfilled, has been treated very slightingly. 
And as a matter of fact, everyone who thinks of the painful 
situations experienced in the dream, may at first find Freud's 
assertion absurd under the one condition that he does not 

416 



ANXIETY DREAM 417 

trouble about that which Freud wishes to say and does say 
plainly enough. With Freud, the accent lies on the points 
that (1) it need in no way be a conscious wish which is fulfilled 
in the dream, but often an unconscious one ; (2) the wishfulfill- 
ment does not occur in that which is really dreamed but the 
latent wish comes to expression only symbolically in veiled 
form, metaphorically, like a charade. He who leaves these two 
fundamental considerations out of account, does an injustice 
to psychoanalysis with his jest. In the sense indicated, which 
is clearly and plainly defined by Freud, the significance of a 
wishfulfillment appears not only for every dream but for all 
neurotic symptoms,* no matter how tormenting they may be. 

In some dreams, which Freud describes as infantile, although 
they apparently occur also in adults, t the dream content cor- 
responds to a manifest wish, for example, the father sees his 
unfortunate lame child jumping around. Usually however 
this is not the case. 

He who only looked at the dream of the two furniture vans 
(355), or that of the negro and piano (356), or that of coming 
too late and arriving at proper time at the station (358), or 
that of the awaited Duchess of Angouleme (359), might find 
it difficult to see a wish realized in them. But if one takes into 
consideration the associations, the whole mental situation, then 
he can scarcely miss the autistic gratification of a strong desire, 
unless he is greatly prejudiced beforehand. 

Or if one had said at the beginning to the hysterical girl 
whose psychogenic deafness we described (96) : "Your suf- 
fering corresponds to your wish" — she would have justly re- 
jected this silly assertion. For under "your wish" she would 
have had to understand a conscious wish, while the wishes: 

* An exception may be formed by anxiety which Freud seeks to eluci- 
date physiologically in a manner clever, but for me, not convincing. 
(Freud, "Angstneurose," Kl. Sehriften I, p. 76 f.) Jones derives the 
anxiety not directly from repressed sexuality but from an "inborn 
instinct of fear which is excited to excessive activity (as defence mech- 
anism) as answer to the danger from repressed sexual wishes." (Die 
Beziehungen zwisehen Angstneurose und Angsthysterie. Internat. Zschr. 
f. arztl. Psa. I, p. 13.) 

t Here they are in need of an overinterpretation, however. 



418 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

"would that I might no more hear the raging father, the groan- 
ing mother, the dissolute brother, the base gossip and especially 
the unloved fiance who makes sexual demands" in their con- 
nection with the suffering were unconscious. Further, the 
actual deafness was not wished for, but only a relative deaf- 
ness, even though the hysterical girl certainly often used the 
expression : ' * Would that I might hear nothing of the whole 
thing ! ' ' Just as little did the dreamers wish a real furniture 
van or the historical Duchess of Angouleme.* 

Let us take another example characterized by extreme sim- 
plicity, A refined lady, married for some months, is suddenly 
seized with great anxiety lest burglars be found in the garden. 
Who would wish anything of that sort? The explanation is 
that the husband is impotent and that she can therefore love 
him no more although she lays no blame on him. The lady 
suffers also from severe pains in the pelvis (imaginary deflora- 
tion- and birth-pains) and is operated on for vaginismus, 
since the hymen is still present, without the pains being helped 
in the least. I cured the husband, a woman physician with the 
aid of psychoanalysis, the wife, who naturally wished for bur- 
glary in her organs and the couple which had been married 
about a year, at once experienced the joy of normal marriage 
and parental happiness (124). 

I have always found confirmed without exception where 
analysis was possible, that the manifestation, as a whole, repre- 
sented as real something which was secretly wished for, often 
without the subject's knowing it. Many times, one will not 
consider it possible that the impulses displaying themselves in 
the dream can really be present, until one is convinced by acts 
in the waking state or a series of other arguments. It is shock- 
ing to many subjects of analysis to have demonstrated by in- 
fallible proof what vulgar impulses were now and then present 
and repressed in their minds. The analyst must often console 

* A very beautiful example, in which a physician sees his index finger 
as syphilitic, is given by August Stiirke in his communication: "Ein 
Traum, der das Gegenteil einer Wunscherfiillung zu verwirklichen 
scheint, zugleich ein Beispiel eines Traumes, der von einem andern 
Traum gedeutet wird." Zbl. II, pp. 86-88. 



ANXIETY DREAM 419 

with the assurance that one is not responsible for the repressed 
material and that everyone, without exception, carries within 
himself his demons. 

Often there comes to fulfillment in the dream, a wish which 
is still entirely unconscious but which later becomes conscious. 
Freud calls such dreams, prophetic dreams, of which we also 
heard Hebbel speak, page 352, " annunciatory dreams." 
Maeder gives some good examples of these.* 

The indicative instead of the optative is also used in ordinary 
life. ' ' You do that ' ' is emphasizing the imperative : " do that. ' ' 
When a skittle ball misses its goal, the unfortunate marksman 
who is accustomed to act out his impulses is the personified 
optative in the indicative. 

A more frequent special case is that when a repressed 
thought, a fear, is expressed by some harmless phenomenon of 
related nature. From a certain date, a gentleman suffers from 
the annoying and vigorously combated habit of leaving the door 
open on leaving the house, when he intended to shut it, so that 
he would have to turn around and draw it to ; or he has forgotten 
something and must turn back, for example, to get a pencil or 
to brush his hat or to close a cabinet which he thought was open, 
etc. Often he was vexed at himself for turning back for such a 
bagatelle but originally the intention seemed important. The 
analysis shows: His marriage is unhappy, further he takes 
little pleasure in his children. He would like to free himself 
from these relations but does not dare to make the plans, chiefly 
because the external difficulties seem insuperable. Further, he 
shoves aside this thought : ' ' I cannot escape from these rela- 
tionships. ' ' The symptomatic act says : ' ' Quite right but it is 
only the house from which you will not so easily get free." 
Perhaps it also means : ' ' Guard against tearing yourself from 
your family." 

A peasant, aged fifty-three, suffered from violent pains in his 
arm. The physician made the mistaken diagnosis of beginning 
muscular atrophy. I found : his son whom he called his ' ' right 
arm" gave him much pain. 

* Maeder, tjber die Funktion dea Traumes. Jahrb. IV, p. 694 flf, 



420 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

The same man showed an uncommonly frequent hysterical 
symptom: pains in the loins (Kreuz). They are only an ex- 
pression of the phantasy: "you must bear a heavy cross 
(Kreuz), yes but only in your body." According to this con- 
struction : "yes, but only," many neuroses are formed and thus 
fulfill a relative vi'ish. 

Especially in the beginning of the analysis when the deeper 
mental motives, the most intimate needs, are not yet recog- 
nized, the dream contains fairly plain wishfulfillments. The 
more the attachment in infantile phantasies is released by 
analysis and the instincts turn to a future corresponding to the 
inner imperative, just so much the more does the dream-con- 
tent assume the character of a proposal which one might desig- 
nate as prophecy, if the possibility of new, preferable life-plans 
did not exist. Thus, the wishfulfilling in the manifestation 
may then be called a kind of hallon d'essai. 

2. The Manifestation as Acquiring of Pleasure and Avoiding 

of Pain 

This title, too, may cause those who saw the enormous physi- 
cal and particularly mental suffering of profound neurotic and 
psychotic patients, to shake their heads. And yet the super- 
scription expresses a truth. In the depths of grievous tortures, 
there often lurks a high degree of pleasure which we have to 
understand as masochism. Goethe was far too keen a student 
of humanity to have missed the universality of this desire for 
the sweet torment. He remarks that man has a kind of lust 
for evil and a dim longing for the pleasure of pain.* 

Often, the morbid symptom itself is obviously pleasant and 
unpleasant at the same time. We heard above of the girl who 
scratched herself to the hair-roots, tearing out whole pieces of 
skin and tufts of hair, thereby obtaining a high degree of 
pleasure, however (34). 

The hysterical man who admired the hallucinated nixies' 
veils so greatly and was indifferent to the nixies themselves 

* Goethe, Wilhelm Meisters theatralische Sendung. Reports by Gus- 
tav Billeter. Zurich, 1910, p. 93. 



PLEASURE AND PAIN IN MANIFESTATION 421 

(331), often goes into the forest in the evening. Then the 
trees change into ghosts who pursue him through the thickets 
and frighten him terribly. But in the depths of his soul, there 
plainly lurked pleasure. He invited a lady to a ball, retracted 
the invitation at the last moment and v^^ept miserably over his 
misfortune but revelled in his phantasy that he tasted richly 
of "sweet torment." 

A normal young girl who wanted to gain moral strength ac- 
cording to the advice of a teacher of Catholic morality, cauter- 
ized a burn with the prescribed substance in quadruple strength. 
The pain was frightful but the pleasure gained, outweighed it. 

A physician whom I know tells me that a waitress appeared 
at night in great excitement with the beseeching entreaty to 
open her stomach for she had swallowed a fragment of glass. 
After four days, her request was complied with and no foreign 
body was found. The mishap was purely imaginary. Six 
weeks later, the hysterical person appeared to the physician 
again with the same demand. 

How a hysterical person can torture herself for decades 
with indescribable torments and yet secretly enjoy ecstasies 
"with immeasurable sweetness" in her adoration of the heav- 
enly bridegroom, I showed in Margaretha Ebner (1291-1351).* 

Frequently, this gain of pleasure is hard to find but it is 
seldom lacking. A conscious intention to gain pleasure and 
avoid pain may not, as a rule, be ascribed to the subject of 
the manifestation. When an analytic patient perceives that 
getting well demands much sacrifice, namely, the renunciation 
of the autistic release from the duties of life which should be 
performed with moral strength in actuality, the hate is ration- 
alized upon the analyst. But such neurotics who make the 
most of their assertions of misfortune, are not as a rule, con- 
scious swindlers, for intentional automatism would be a contra- 
diction and neuroses are, from the standpoint of consciousness, 
automatisms. Still, there are also moral imbeciles among 
neurotics. 

Not in all psychoneuroses, does one find as plain motive, the 

* Zbl. I, pp. 468-485. 



422 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC IVIETHOD 

flight from reality and its demands with the aim of a phan- 
tastic and dramatic solution of the conflict. But very often, 
one meets such unconscious pleasure-seekers. 

Bed-wetting, for instance, when there is neither bladder 
weakness nor epilepsy, is usually a nocturnal exaction of atten- 
tion, as I have been able to demonstrate many times. If the 
child is given over to a nurse who affords him no erotic gratifi- 
cation, the wetting often ceases at once. The habit may, how- 
ever, according to an infantile theory of reproduction, repre- 
sent a sexual act and is then curable by analysis. An eighteen 
year old girl with neurotic anxiety, who had suffered from 
eneuresis since a small child, of late years had had her symptom 
every time a boy had called to her a greeting or jest during the 
day. I carefully allowed the girl, who was not especially in- 
telligent, to discover the state of affairs for herself and was sur- 
prised to see how little assistance was necessary. The recovery 
resulted at once. 

The sparing of discomfort is often striven for by physical 
sufferings which save an ethical struggle; if the conflict is 
worked out consciously, the suffering is far greater and ter- 
minates in melancholia or neurosis of higher order. I once 
met two sisters who, as strangers, embraced the opportunity to 
pour out their hearts to the pastor. Both labored under exactly 
the same mental needs. The younger suffered from violent 
migraine but came off satisfied with the difficulties of life, since, 
as she said, she banished the disappointments from her mind 
and laughed. Thus she was, according to the testimony of her 
sister and her own assertion, always cheerful and in spite of 
the migraine, a happy person. The other sister, on the other 
hand, was free from hysteria but in its place, moody and melan- 
cholic. She fought out the life conflict in great part con- 
sciously and became unhappy. Naturally, her mental suffer- 
ing was also enormously strengthened by subliminal contribu- 
tions. For the rest, the example shows the protective charac- 
ter of hysteria. 

A young husband was mean to his wife before asthma broke 
put but then became proportionately kind toward her. When 



NEUROTIC HABITS 423 

the physical trouble receded, the previous irritability returned. 
This interchange happened repeatedly. 

Many times, it is not an ethical longing but resistance against 
some kind of duty, hard to perform, which drives the person 
into the infantilism of the neurosis. That such a result is very 
bad, is obvious enough. He who wishes to get through life 
cheaply and seeks to escape the moral command of his inmost 
soul, must constantly pay heavy damages. One puts off from 
week to week the composition of an unpleasant letter, has to 
repress many unpleasant feelings and finally writes it when 
the situation is just so much the worse. Freud indicates the 
significance of the repression-process shown in this section when 
he speaks of an attraction from the unconscious.* 

(b) the special meaning 

' ' According to a rule which I had always found substantiated 
but had not the courage to set up as a general one, a symptom 
signifies the representation — realization — of a phantasy with 
sexual content, thus a sexual situation. I might better say, 
at least one of the meanings of a symptom corresponds to the 
representation of a sexual phantasy, while for the other mean- 
ings, there is no such limitation of content." f "The morbid 
phenomena are, to put it bluntly, the sexual activities of the 
patients. ' ' $ 

My experiences support the contention that these statements 
very often prove correct, still, in view of the insufficient num- 
ber of my observations, I venture neither to explain Freud's 
rule as universally applicable nor to consider the sexual signifi- 
cance of the cases seen by me as the deepest ones. Let us re- 
call at this point the broadness of the definition of the sexual 
given by Freud. That very strong sexual and erotic energies 
may be invested in manifestations, as well as in sport, art and 
religion, is obvious. Only in this way, can we explain the 
tremendous intensity of the compulsion to senseless acts or 

* Freud, Z. Ubertrag. Zbl. IT, p. 170. 

t Freud, Bruchstuck. Kl. Schriften II, p. 39. 

i Same, p. 102. 



424 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

phantasies, to hysterical pains and other complex-reactions. 
Further, the pent-up instinct for assertion and execution often 
manifests itself in symptoms. 

A fifteen year old girl became ill with severe dysmenorrhea 
which the physician wanted to relieve by operation. A woman 
physician who practiced analysis fortunately advised analysis 
however, which soon revealed the purely hysterical character 
of the disturbance. The girl plainly acted out a birth-phantasy 
as her accompanying dreams proved. She repeatedly had a 
red spot, about one centimeter in diameter, on her throat, very 
often during the analysis. She once surprised her parents to- 
gether. At that time, the embarrassed mother said : ' ' Father 
has lost his collar-button and is looking for it." Soon after- 
wards, the trouble began. 

Many similar examples might be introduced. 

2. The Biological Meaning of the Manifestation 

The biological purpose of the instincts consist in the preser- 
vation of the individual and of the race. We observe this also 
in the effects of instinctive activity which proceeds from the 
unconscious. 

(a) the manifestation as means of assueance 

Freud considers every manifestation as a final, even though 
not always suitable, measure to avoid discomfort, to protect the 
individual against pain. He speaks of defence-neuroses and 
considers the neurosis as an attempt at healing which has mis- 
carried. Adler pursued these thoughts farther in a one-sided 
manner. According to him, every neurotic manifestation 
seeks, as we know (407), to secure the individual against the 
organic inferiority which is present.* One might also speak, 
to select a thought of Freud's, of an assurance against the de- 
mands of life, against the impelling force of conscience (Jung). 
The combat against the enormous dissipation of moral energy 
practiced by healthy and sick, belongs to the most important 
tasks of education. 

* Adler, Nerv. Charakter, p. 11. 



DUTY AND ETHICS 425 

(b) the manifestation as an attempt at healing 

We have just pointed out that the complex-formation may 
represent a defect in the moral sense. The ethical impulse 
can, however, be executed so vigorously in the compromise 
which every manifestation signifies that its tendency pre- 
dominates. 

We have already given examples. I recall the Don Juan who 
endowed himself with pains in arms and legs, the former prob- 
ably the latter certainly, to escape base love affairs and to guard 
against new ones (126). 

According to Maeder, the dreams contain in great part such 
unavowed ethical attempts, unconscious imperatives, in order 
to solve the life conflict and represent the moral demand cor- 
responding to the law of the personal nature. ( Jahrbuch IV, 
692 ff., V, 647 &.). My own experience has not found so great 
a universality of the moral problem named. Only by applying 
force and rejecting the associations given, can I bring every 
dream into this scheme. For the therapeutic aim, this method 
may be harmless, but not always, since it renders difficult the 
analysis of the attachments lying in the past and leaves them 
to good luck. Scientifically, that Procrustean method is always 
dangerous. 

Freud showed in his ''Gradiva" the process of spontaneous 
cure of a neurosis. We pedagogues are very interested in this 
important conception but do not feel ourselves called to settle it. 

Our examples showed that the instinctive connection desiring 
expression in every manifestation is to be traced back not 
merely to the purpose of sparing consciousness painful 
thoughts, thus discomfort. Besides this repression, we ob- 
served a positive factor, an attraction: that of subconscious 
pleasure. Further, we found — and in accord with Freud — that 
the manifestation has not merely (as regression) a backward- 
looking significance but also a forward-looking one, in other 
words, not only a causal character but also a final meaning. 
Also, we now recognize the intimate connection between moral- 
ity and health, disease and moral delinquency. Far removed 



4.26 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

from the position that this insight, gained by pure empiricism, 
may cause ethics to degenerate into naturalism, it shows us 
rather the power and worth of the fulfillment of duty in sur- 
prisingly sublime light. Has not Jesus also called himself a 
Savior ? 



PART II 
THE TECHNIQUE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 



SECTION I. THE METHODS 

CHAPTER XIY 

THE FUNDAMENTAL RULE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 
AND ITS APPLICATION 

The content of the fundamental rule of psychoanalysis has 
already been given in the introduction (6f). We will now 
discuss it somewhat further and examine its application. 

When one has reached the point with the patient where the 
analysis can begin, he says to him something like the following : 
"You are to direct your attention to that which I shall say to 
you and simply name the first thing which comes into your 
mind ; do not ponder over what is said to you but merely say 
without critique that which first comes into your mind, regard- 
less of whether it is nice or ugly, clever or stupid, relevant or 
irrelevant, important or unimportant. " It is advisable to give 
this instruction more than once and to emphasize that we are 
dealing with the very first associations or when several appear 
simultaneously, with the very first group of associations, en- 
tirely without the exercise of any criticism of the content of the 
associated idea or the rejection of anything as inferior. 

One carefully avoids, therefore, all suggestive influences 
which might cause the patient to be guided in his associations by 
the tone, attitude or facial expression of the analyst instead of 
by the idea proposed. As we shall show, suggestion cannot 
generally be entirely eliminated. But it should be restricted 
as much as possible. Hence the analyst maintains as uniform 
an attitude as possible and does not betray his emotional im- 
pulses, especially not by voice and facial expression. In ob- 
taining associations from the patient, one makes use of fixed 

429 



430 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

formulae, as "What does X bring to mind?" Or simply, "X, 
further. ' ' 

One can either analyze a definite manifestation systemati- 
cally or allow such an analysis to be produced; for example, 
taking associations from any word, a chain of associations, a 
cryptogram or something similar may be formed. As a rule, 
the patient is full of his symptoms. Freud has the patient 
tell,* first of all, of the origin of the symptoms and beginning 
here, collects the conscious causes. "When we proceed from 
the last material which the patient remembers, to seek a re- 
pressed complex, we have every prospect of guessing this, if 
the patient puts at our disposal a sufficient number of his free 
associations. Thus, we allow the patient to tell what he wishes 
and we hold fast to the presupposition that he will have no 
associations except such as depend directly upon the complex 
sought for." t There is never an absence of associations.! 
But the patient often keeps silent or represses his associations 
as they appear, the former under neurotic compulsion. Of 
this, we shall speak later. To each association, one has one or 
more others given, according to need, which can be considered 
singly or in groups (constellations) until one has sufficient 
material to be able to approach the interpretation. 

The procedure in dream-analysis is similar. Preferably, 
one has the dream repeated a second time and notes the devia- 
tions because they indicate the points of strongest repression, 
the seats of the critical secrets, that is, when we are not deal- 
ing with a mere matter of style. Now we can proceed in 
various ways. The sequence does not matter. Stekel first 
asks the dreamer what the dream brings to mind. If the 
beginner answers, "Nothing at all," Stekel asks further, of 
what actual experience the dream may recall, whereupon, most 
patients tell of an event which appears in the dream changed 
and falsified. Or he ascertains what significance this or that 
person acting in the dream may have for the life of the 
dreamer. 1 1 

♦Freud, Studien, p. 234. $ Same, p. 31. 

t Freud, tJber Psa. p. 30. || Stekel, Sprache d. T. p. 513 f. 



DREAM INTERPRETATION 431 

Often, one names the part of the dream which is most 
striking and proceeds farther from that. Or one has the 
dream considered bit by bit and uses these parts as instigators 
for other associations. If one gets little or nothing from an 
idea, he can come back to it later. 

Many a dream fragment reveals its secret only when one has 
dissected it into separate characteristics. Hence one has the 
manifestation described very clearly and in detail. 

Soon, it will be seen that a number of associations to the 
dream fragment point to one latent dream thought. If fur- 
ther associations follow, one holds back with his assumption 
for awhile and also does not betray his surmise by any gesture 
and allows further material to accumulate until a view of the 
whole dream or of an essential part of the dream-content can 
be gained. Much which is still obscure, becomes elucidated 
by the discovered meaning. New associations are gathered 
and thus one gains first an interpretation which exhausts one 
dream stratum. We know now, however, that overdetermina- 
tions are always possible. One tries to determine by obtaining 
further reactions whether a deeper meaning may not be con- 
ceivable, for example, an erotic meaning behind a religious 
one. Every interpretation allows the entrance into conscious- 
ness of other unconscious ideas in case the conductibility has 
not been previously exhausted. If one wishes from theoreti- 
cal reasons to penetrate deeper, then in the next session, he 
turns back to the object. Still, it is more to the interest of 
the patient to decipher the new dream, so far as it reveals its 
secret, since the unexplored remnant returns with infallible 
certainty in this or that disguise when one needs it. 

During the analysis, whether it proceeds by free rapport 
or by stepwise treatment of individual contents of the mani- 
festation, one pays attention to the complex-indicators which 
we described in discussing the association experiment (page 
335). The whole analysis is indeed only an extended asso- 
ciation experiment. One pays particular attention to physi- 
cal reactions, for example, blushing, twitching, twisting 
around, and also to mental ones, as omissions, misunderstand- 



432 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ings, transferring attention to some object in the surround- 
ings or to a distant idea which is at once analyzed again. 
This jumping to an object which apparently does not belong 
to the subject at hand, in particular affords the analysis ex- 
cellent stopping points. Further, lingering long over the same 
object (perseveration) is a valuable indication. 

If the conversation lags, we can have the patient make up 
phantasies, fictions, sequences, general impressions, etc. 

One should allow the patient to discover the interpretation 
as much as possible by himself. He thus obtains earlier the 
feeling of security and rejoices in his discovery. One thus 
prepares him better for subsequent autoanalysis and self -edu- 
cation. 

Falsifications of memory, for example, chronological errors, 
should be noted carefully and analyzed.* Conscious untruths 
should not be censured, otherwise the resistance is aroused. 
One simply gives the patient to understand that one sees 
through them readily and considers them as a resistance-symp- 
tom which injures the patient. Many persons who are liars at 
the beginning of the analysis, prove later to be highly honor- 
able and agreeable patients, while many others who are frank 
at first, suddenly erect a barrier and wish to fortify them- 
selves behind it. Those who are liars because of moral defi- 
ciency, cannot in general, be deeply analyzed. 

In certain systems of manifest contents, it is often impos- 
sible to decide which interpretation is correct and most im- 
portant (see page 361). 

On page 181, I described the hysteria of a girl who suffered 
from severe fatigue, convulsions of laughing and weeping, as 
well as pathological dislike for touching wool and silk. I beg 
the reader to imagine that episode, the death of the little 
brother who snatched an object from our hysterical patient 
and in so doing, fell into a tub of hot water, so that the reader 
may share in the interpretation of the following fragment of 
analysis : 

[Wool.] "Wool bites. I could never put on woolen stock- 

* Freud, Kl. Schriften I, p. 220. 



ASSOCIATION TEST 433 

ings. I wept when I had to put them on. This peculiarity I 
had from a little child, like many children." 

[Wool.] "Disagreeable, thick. When one's nails are 
freshly cut, it clings to them." (End of the session. Next 
time:) 

[Wool.] ' ' It is always so hot in it, in stockings and dresses. ' ' 
(The father entered and gave information. Next session:) 

[Wool.] ''I cannot wear it, not touch it. It is rather be- 
cause of the dress. ' ' ( Ambiguous. ) [Little dress. ] ' ' Small. 
I mean rather a child's dress such as quite small children 
wear. ' ' 

[Imagine one.] *'Yes. It is white. I do not know whether 
it belongs to a boy or a girl." [White, small child's dress.*] 
"I see one before me on a body. I see no head, however. I 
see the dress lying down. On the same body are gray stock- 
ings. ' ' 

[The body.] ''Yes, it would be horribly unpleasant if it 
were wet. If it were so tightly wrapped in swaddling clothes 
and woolen things. It would be hot." 

[Thus you phantasy the body of a little child lying with 
small white dress, the head invisible, and you imagine: if it 
were wet, hot and tightly wrapped; now?] (Long pause.) 
"Nothing. Perhaps I was once so." [May there not be an- 
other bit of reality, this wet, tightly dressed, hot little body?] 
"You certainly mean my little brother but I do not think so. 
The little body which I see, is much smaller and younger." 

[Have you had this phantasy long?] "No, only to-day. 
No, also at the last hour when you said wool. ' ' 

[Where is the child?] "On a table. I was told once that 
when quite a small child, I rolled from a table but was not 
hurt. At that time, I probably had on a little dress and 
swaddling clothes like the child that I imagine. Perhaps I 
rolled off by myself because I was thick, perhaps someone gave 
me a push. Perhaps father had to lay me down to dry me 
and did not attend to me properly in so doing." 

* If a manifest object is described more precisely, one has the newly 
given characteristics apperceived. 



434 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

The mother confirmed later that they had to dress the 
scalded little brother wet and wrap him up thickly. The 
daughter thinks she recalls this sight. On the day of the acci- 
dent, the little boy did not wear woolen stockings. 

It seems to me that without further experiences, according 
to our logical arrangement, all possible interpretations of this 
material are admissible. 

With the ''cathartic" forestage of psychoanalysis (Breuer), 
one might say, the tragic accident acted like a foreign body. 
The phantasy proved then something like this : it happened to 
the little brother only as to yourself. You too were allowed 
to fall. That is only fate. 

Janet might assume under such circumstances, so far as he 
considers a counter-suggestion as healing, ' ' Your little brother 
was not dead, he only lay there like yourself." 

In accordance with a later expression of Freud's, one may 
speak of a withholding of affect, but our little patient showed 
no sorrow over the fatal accident, while the somnambulistic 
repetition of the scene in the laundry, like the convulsions, be- 
trays the powerful impression. 

One might, if one knew no other facts, think with Stekel 
of repression of primary hate. If one notes that the girl is 
jealous of her celebrated sister and her favored brother, then 
the most superficial interpretation runs something like this: 
' ' May it go with me as punishment for my hate and my impious 
joy as with the unfortunate brother ! I was indeed once near 
to it ! " "With this interpretation agrees the fatigue which al- 
ways symbolizes, where it is psychogenic, being tired of love, 
thus being tired of life. Freud confirms the finding that in 
apathy, love and hate often inhibit each other.* 

Adler too would be in a position to see his theory of the 
neurosis as a result of a complex of inferiority organically con- 
ditioned, confirmed in this ease. The girl actually felt help- 
less against her brother and let him have everything without 
the slightest resistance. Later, she considered herself dis- 

* Freud, Bemerkungen ii. e. Fall v. Zwangsneurose. Jahrb. I, p. 415. 
Pfister, Analyt. Unters. ii. Hass u. Versohnung, p. 46. 



SUMMARY OF ANALYSIS 435 

agreeable and in so doing, did herself an injustice. By the 
fear of contact, she secured herself against the violent torment 
of the memory of the creature who made the most of his weak- 
ness, regardless of everything and compelled tenderness, since 
that little brother on account of nervous (epileptic?) pheno- 
mena, enjoyed special attention. 

Freud could find his "nuclear complex," the "family ro- 
mance" corroborated. For the little brother did actually 
block the way to the parents' love. Therewith, the "incest- 
uous root" would be unearthed. 

Jung would be in a position to consider the phantasy figure 
as libido-symbol : The patient wishes to assert herself in real- 
ity by sacrificing herself as a little child, i. e. her infantilism. 

At the time of the analysis of this case, I was just making 
the acquaintance of Freud and expected the cure from ' ' abre- 
action," from the affect-laden conversation. Nevertheless, I 
did not neglect to emphasize strongly the error of the feeling of 
inferiority conditioned on infantilism, the possession of abun- 
dant love on the side of excellent parents and the right, as well 
as the possibility, of making herself properly efficient. Thus 
I made good in part as consoling and counseling pastor what I 
lacked as analyst. At all events, the phobia disappeared from 
that hour and the other symptoms were soon overcome. 
^ I would call attention here to the fact that cure does not 
guarantee the correctness of the analysis, as the results of vari- 
ous interpreters and places of pilgrimage and charlatans tes- 
tify. This fact has been emphasized from remotest times. 

The reader will see from our example how difficult it is, 
under certain circumstances, to obtain absolutely reliable in- 
terpretations or to take a position in the successive theses of the 
leaders of analysis. 

In consolation, one may point out that not everything de- 
pends on the particular interpretation. The unsolved conflict 
manifests itself again and again and gives occasion for cor- 
rection. It often happens that an uninterpreted symbol keeps 
reappearing with obstinate persistency until the right explana- 
tion succeeds and a better outlet for the life-force is found. 



CHAPTER XV 
SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS 

1. External Aids 

In the be^nning, Freud made use of a little artifice when the 
flow of associations stopped, which he later abandoned: he 
assured the patient that the memory which would come at the 
moment he laid his hand on his brow would be the right one.* 
He gave up this tedious method, however. I attempted to 
coax out an association by promising that it would come im- 
mediately after I had counted three, since actual touching the 
patient, because of the transference to be discussed later, 
seemed to me from the beginning to work unfavorably. This 
forcing also is superfluous. There are better means of over- 
coming the resistance. 

Even to-day, Freud and other analysts, chiefly for reasons 
of quietness, have the patient lie on a couch and seat them- 
selves at the patient's head in order not to be seen. Freud 
asserts in recommending this method: it has historic meaning 
as a remnant of the hypnotic treatment, from which, psycho- 
analysis developed, it spares the analyst the tiresome condition 
of being stared at, it guards the patient against the danger of 
interpreting the mien of his analyst.! Stekel and many others 
have given up this practice and offer the visitor a chair or arm- 
chair. I have even analyzed pupils with great success while 
walking with them, since facts sprang up which would have 
been sought in vain in a room. For the pedagogues, having the 
pupil seated is decidedly the method of choice. $ The recum- 

* Freud, ij. Psa., p. 19. 

t Freud, Weitere Ratschliige zur Teclmik der Psychoanalyse. Inter- 
nat. Zschr. f. iirztl. Psa. I, p. 10. 

Jin connection with Freud's arguments, it should be noted: A mere 
historical memento of the hypnotic period has no great value. For a 

436 



HYPNOSIS 437 

bent position produces anxiousness and phantasies in many- 
patients which must first be overcome. Girls are embarrassed 
and are afraid to lie on the sofa before their teacher even 
when they do it unhesitatingly before their physician. Most 
of them feel themselves placed in a subservient, helpless posi- 
tion. Sexual phantasies are easily aroused. Very important 
for the decision is the role which one imputes to the analyst for 
the educational process. Hence, I am of the opinion: the 
natural conversational position, in which one sees every move- 
ment best, is probably the one most to be recommended to peda- 
gogues. 

2. Hypnosis 

Forel, Frank* and other psychiatrists who agree with the 
analysis in the main, find fault because hypnosis has been given 
up. I cannot accept this view for the following reasons : 

1. Hypnosis is not successful in all cases. Freud, himself 
a master of the technique, whose appreciation went so far that 
he translated into German f two works of his teacher, Bern- 
heim, calls it "a capricious and as one might say, mystical 
aid."$ 

2. Hypnosis does not penetrate as deeply by far as a cor- 
rect psychoanalytic treatment in the waking state. He who 
compares the analyses of Frank with those of Freud, Ferenczi, 
Rank, Jung, Riklin, Maeder and other real analysts, sees at 
once that the former is satisfied with an entirely superficial an- 
alysis. This may suffice for the lighter cases but is insuf- 
ficient for severe ones. 

3. Hypnosis penetrates only to the symptom while psycho- 
great number of analysts, being-stared-at is not in the least disagree- 
able, as little as in daily conversation. The actual expression of the 
analyst who knows how to control himself, is less disturbing than the 
artificial ones. As it is not the real father but the father-image which 
injures, so with the analyst and the image of him created by the pa- 
tient's wishes under certain circumstances. 

* L. Frank, Die Psychoanalyse, Munich, 1909. 

f H. Bernheim, Die Suggestion u. i. Heilwirkung. Further : Neue 
Studien ii. Hypnotismus, Suggestion u. Psychotherapie. Both from the 
press of Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna. 

t Freud, tJ. Psa., p. 18. 



4S8 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

analysis aims at a thorough educational work which makes all 
restricted life-energy available for ethical purposes. For us 
pedagogues, the pathological symptom is often a matter of 
secondary importance. We recognize a hundredfold that it is 
great good fortune for a person when he is afflicted with a mal- 
ady which CQmpels him to search out the deeper-lying inner 
conflict which muddles his whole attitude toward life and duty 
and to relieve it in the sense of an ethical, often religious, solu- 
tion. This noblest gain is largely lost in hypnosis which aims 
at an external result. The deep, inner dissension remains, 
nevertheless, and often creates new, perhaps worse, disturb- 
ances which may however, escape the attention of the physi- 
cian but are therefore so much the more important for the edu- 
cator and pastor. Especially for autoanalysis and self-educa- 
tion as a whole, the follower of the cathartic method with his 
hypnosis accomplishes far less than the psychoanalyst. 

4. The results of hypnosis are also less permanent than 
those of psychoanalysis. 

5. The analytic physicians also practice hypnosis, probably 
even to-day, and indeed often the light hypnosis recommended 
by Frank * as well as occasionally, the deeper. Thus, they have 
the best opportunity to make comparisons. On the basis of 
their numerous experiences, they apply hypnosis only to those 
individuals whose mental level, judged less in regard to knowl- 
edge than to insight, is not high enough for analysis, or where 
the time for proper analysis is lacking, but they do not con- 
ceal the fact that the result is far less thorough and perma- 
nent. If they could attain the goal by the shorter way of 
hypnosis, they would do so gladly, but as a matter of fact, they 
obtain by following Forel's and Frank's recommendations only 
such superficial analyses as these investigators themselves, and 
in the interest of their patients, cannot and will not be satis- 
tied with these. 

* Frank, Psa. p. 20. Since Frank emphasizes that this light grade 
of hypnotism distinguishes him from Breuer and Freud, it should be 
pointed out that these too expressly apply the "light hypnosis" (Stu- 
dien 14). 



SUGGESTION 439 

Hence I consider the hypnotic position, which for the rest 
holds the "abreaction of affects" as the vital point, as out 
of date, although it can certainly do much good in practice, but 
in scientific investigation, much less. At all events, we teach- 
ers, out of consideration for our internal and external compe- 
tence, (medical law) will not meddle with hypnosis. 

3. Suggestion 

(a) PAUL DUBOIS 

It is well known that Paul Dubois, neurologist of the Uni- 
versity of Berne, has produced the valuable proof that many 
organic maladies and most nervous attacks depend on mental 
stimuli.* According to him, therapy depends on the law: 
"The nervous patient is on the way to health as soon as he 
has the conviction that he can be cured ; he is to be considered 
as cured on the day when he thinks himself cured.! The 
means for attaining this ''fixed idea" are fairly indifferent: 
religious faith, suggestion by charlatans, suggestion by medica- 
ments and physical agencies, scientific psychotherapy by the 
education of reason, all help if they bring about that fixed 
idea.J Religious faith would be the strongest prophylactic 
against the diseases mentioned if it occasioned a true Christ- 
like Stoicism (202). Rational psychotherapy applies itself 
simply to the healthy human intelligence of the subject. || One 
must know how to become master of the patient at a stroke and 
really inoculate him with the fixed idea that he will be healed.^ 
Everything depends on the power of the conviction. § 

A simpler method than this suggestive taking possession and 
persuasion is scarcely conceivable. The search for causes 
disappears: the physician works according to the same prin- 

* P. Dubois, Die Psychoneurosen u. i. psych. Behandlg. Bern, 1905, 
p. 101. 

t Same, p. 202. 
t Same, p. 202. 
II Same, p. 214. 
USame, p. 223. 
§Same, p. 427. 



440 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ciple as the charlatan and Christian Science healer, the Zionist 
or Mormon sects, except that the former appeals more to 
healthy reason. In this concurrence, the poor physician 
plainly often shows up to disadvantage, since, "the healthy 
human reason" in the majority of people is by no means the 
strongest power. Those individuals of weaker intellectual 
gifts would do better, according to Dubois, in their nervous 
troubles to go direct to charlatans and religious therapeutists, 
many of whom are given to a miserable swindling, indeed it 
would prove the fraudulent advertising, on account of its 
suggestive effect, to be an actual benefit. 

No one can deny the results of suggestion. Every Chris- 
tian, Buddhist and Mahommedan place of pilgrimage, every 
priest of f etichism and quack afford proof in abundance. But 
behold the reverse side : 

1. In the application of suggestion, one experiences many 
relapses. "Only too often are the symptoms banished for 
only a short time, the suffering likewise glossed over. ' ' * 
These experiences which soon bring so many wonder-workers 
and shrines into discredit when they are not kept silent, may 
also be read in Jesus' words: Mat. xii, 43-45, "When the 
unclean spirit is gone out of a man . . . and when he is come 
. . . then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits 
more wicked than himself . . . and the last state of that man 
is worse than the first." 

2. Many troubles which cannot be cured by the method of 
Dubois and religious therapy may be overcome with analytic 
aid. Not a single victim of obsessional neurosis could Dubois 
cure, only a decided improvement could he obtain (429), while 
I have observed a long list of cures by pedagogic analysis of 
this highly interesting and often frightful malady. Further, 
patients who have gone away uncured from recognized Chris- 
tian healers in spite of strongest effort, I have seen healed 
by analysis. 

3. The application of the Dubois method is very painful to 

* J. J. Putnam, U. Aetiol. u. Behandlg. d. Psychoneurosen, Zbl. I, p. 
140. 



CRITICISM OF SUGGESTION 441 

teacher and pupil during its duration. The monotonous asser- 
tion of the psychotherapeutist by authority becomes, in the 
face of maladies countless times persisting unchanged, farce 
and torture. The results are moderate. Beside the method 
of Dubois, always driving at the same "fixed idea," the an- 
alytic method is as a rule exceedingly mild.* My experi- 
ences after all kinds of disappointments (I practised Dubois' 
method as convinced adherent) have made me very reserved 
toward the practice. 

4. Dubois proceeds to attack only the symptom and a single 
condition, which is usually not present in reality at all, namely, 
a false theory concerning the nature of nervous maladies, , 
while analysis seeks the actual seat of the trouble.! I shall 
not enter upon the astoundingly one-sided rationalistic psy- 
chology of Dubois. 

5. The assertion that the psychoneurotic malady is removed 
by the belief in the possibility of being cured, is absolutely 
incorrect. With the strongest faith, we often see the disease 
persist, while with psychoanalysis, we often see a cure result 
in doubting individuals. 

6. The stoicism recommended by Dubois, with its tendency 
toward introversion, signifies usually a bad canalization of 
instinct. Above we saw stoicism as symptom and cause of 
disease (93). 

The suggestive suppression of a symptom under threats and 
punishments is obviously dangerous in the highest degree. A 
mother told me triumphantly that she had driven out by stern- 
ness a nervous tic (twitching of the face) in her daughter. 
Forthwith, three new ones appeared. 

* The assertion that psychoanalysis is painful, is not, according to my 
experience, true. Only clumsy boring and compelling acts painfully. 
Also the excitements come more at the beginning of the analysis. But 
he who will console, need not be disturbed by the fact that the telling 
of the causes of suffering causes excitement. Almost always, the analy- 
sis brings either immediately or after the first hours, relief. 

t Dubois leaves the causal need of the normal psychologist entirely 
unsatisfied. He does not once hint what the meaning may be when a 
patient with obsessional neurosis will not venture to stick his hand into 
hia portemonnaie (p. 427) etc. 



4A^ THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

(b) suggestion in psychoanalysis 

(a) Unintentional Suggestion. 

Obviously, the psychoanalyst cannot exclude sugestion.* 
Profession, examination, preconceived opinion already suggest. 
It is known how powerfully the consultation-room of the den- 
tist works in this direction. 

(j8) Intentional Suggestion. 

1. In the preliminary stage of the actual analysis (the con- 
stellation). That the attitude belongs to the fundamental 
rules of analysis has been shown. 

2. In the actual analytic procedure. Here the suggestion 
cannot be too carefully avoided by tone and gesture, par- 
ticularly also the autosuggestion. One must also guard against 
the theoretical instruction which one must give, dictating the 
associations, since the consideration for these instructions, the 
expectation of their coming true or the hope of their prov- 
ing false, influence the direction of the associations. The 
sharper the patient has his attention fixed on his manifestation 
or his free rapport, so much the more surely does this foreign 
suggestion recede. 

3. In the synthetic part of the analytic procedure. Freud 
considers it proper for the educator to give suggestions in- 
tentionally and consciously to point out life-paths and invite 
to the following of these. He should not compel, however, 
but rather allow the love of the pupil (transference) to act.t 
How this suggestion has to work in the new canalization of 
the instinct will be shown later. 

Nevertheless the analysis is differentiated from the sugges- 
tion technique by the avoidance of strong pressure. It merely 
coaxes and invites. Herein it is an exact contrast to Dubois. 
How often does one experience that a symptom disappears 
without the slightest persuasion, while before, it persisted 
against all pressure in spite of strong faith. This is particu- 
larly important for moral improvement. That which cannot 

* Bleuler, Jahrb. II, p. 642. 

t Freud, Z. Dynamik d. Ubertragung. Zbl. II, p. 172. 



DUBOIS AND FREUD 443 

be attained by rack and thumbscrew, since a neurotic obses- 
sion exists, psychoanalysis often attains without any violence 
and self-torture. 

(C) DUBOIS AND FEEUD 

(a) In comparison with the Old and New Testaments (Law 
and Gospels). 

Dubois endeavors to force a fixed idea. For many individ- 
uals, the forced belief means a heavy burden. The impulses 
forcibly given signify a new * ' Thou shalt. ' ' Inversely, Freud 
wishes to take away a burden already present, Dubois shovels 
coal into the furnace of the leaky steam-boat which is half 
filled with water ; Freud plugs the hole and pumps the water 
out. Then it can be seen whether coal is still needed. 

Dubois represents the pedagogy of the Old Testament, 
Freud, that of the New. There: "Thou shalt!" here: 
"Thou mayest!" There, new demand, here, salvation. 
There, command, here, love. 

(|8) In their Relation to Buddhism and Christianity. 

Dubois lays great stress on renunciations: "The stoicism, 
if it would really lead to health, cannot rest on mere auto- 
suggestion . . . rather it must be founded on the enduring 
fundamental propositions of philosophy which can serve as 
plumb-line for the whole life. ' ' * Thus the renunciation of 
illusions is certainly necessary, hence stoicism certainly can- 
not be the final word. Jesus does not, like Buddha, recom- 
mend the cessation of thinking, feeling and volition but rather 
the maximal self -efficiency in the sense of sublimation, yet with- 
out the negation of the primary instinctive life. Now, Dubois 
is certainly far distant from Buddha's absolute introversion, 
but he stands decidedly nearer to it than psychoanalysis, to 
which, the most abundant instinctive activity in the sense of 
sublimation and an ethically valuable primary eroticism seem 
to be the right conceptions. 

* Dubois, Psychon. p. 404. In his book, "Selbsterziehung," ( Bern 
1909), Dubois praises more the freeing from egoism (for example, pp. 
107-120, 261, 267). 



444 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

(y) In their Positions toward Authority and Freedom. 

While Dubois leads his medical authority into the field full 
tilt, Freud allows the patients to find the truth themselves as 
much as possible. The former holds his patients in the father- 
complex, the latter sets them free. The former wishes to free 
by a "fixed idea," the latter by re-education to have the patient 
find for himself the law of his own inner self and the best 
possible realization of his capabilities. So in this regard, the 
two men represent the difference between heteronomy and au- 
tonomy or between Catholicism and Protestantism. Thus, the 
beautiful word, self-education, has with Freud a much deeper 
significance than with Dubois: The man does not force and 
persuade himself to a larger life, he loves himself into it. 
Dubois points in the direction of resignation and asceticism, of 
autoeroticism, Freud in the direction of transference and sub- 
limation, Jung quite similarly in that of the independent com- 
prehension of the individual law of life, to the chief demands 
of which, love for others belongs. 

4. The Dislocation 

In contrast to Dubois and most psychotherapeutists who 
provide for the patients in sanatoria, psychoanalysis leaves its 
pupils in their civic relations and at their work. Further, it 
places little emphasis on the diet. While many physicians 
wish to lead their patients to health by forced feeding and 
others by fasting and sometimes also succeed, Freud imposes 
only rational life-conduct. We know that even severe physical 
lassitude can arise from mental causes (181), as in other cases, 
it can arise from overwork or physical defects. 

If bad relations exist at home, however, or an uncommonly 
strong father-, mother- or sister-complex prevails, then, re- 
moval from home facilitates the treatment, indeed it is often 
an actual prerequisite. I have repeatedly seen convalescence, 
rendered possible by the analysis, immediately appear after the 
patient's departure. Very often the meddling of foolish peo- 
ple forms an obstacle which must be met. Strong natures 
find the new adaptation to reality, the solution of the inner 



PSYCHOANALYSIS AND OTHER METHODS 445 

conflict, the actual utilization of the libido, even in very un- 
favorable relations. 

The change of surroundings, often health-bringing for 
mentally ailing individuals, even without analysis, oftentimes 
assists the analytic work because it imposes a new attitude 
toward life. Still, it is usually superfluous. 

In conclusion, it should be remarked again and emphasized 
that Freud does not at all mean to say that psychoanalysis is 
always and in all cases the only therapy possible or necessary.* 
On the contrary, he and probably everyone who has mastered 
this and the other methods, is of the opinion that '4t acts 
most thoroughly, has the most far-reaching results and is the 
method by which one attains the most intensive changes in 
the patient, t 

Obviously, psychoanalysis presupposes the previously known 
pedagogic methods and merely joins them in learning and 
teaching. 

* E. Hitschmann, Freuds Neurosenlehre, Leipzig and Vienna 1911, p. 
117 f. Eng. translation in Monograph Series of the Journal of Nervous 
and Mental Disease, N. Y. Freud, U. Psychotherapie, Kl. Schriften I, p. 
p. 211. 

t Hitschmann, p. 118. 



SECTION II 

THE EFFECTS OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC 
PROBING 

CHAPTER XVI 
THE ABREACTION 

**"We found to our great surprise that the individual hys- 
terical symptoms immediately disappeared, and that without 
return, when we had succeeded in awakening to full vividness 
the memory of the causative event, therewith also arousing the 
accompanying affect, and provided that the patient described 
the event in the most detailed manner possible and gave verbal 
expression to the affect."* With this sentence, Breuer and 
Freud describe in their first communication their method of 
treatment. In so doing, they proceeded on the assumption 
that the hysterical individuals suffer, in large part, from 
reminiscences which are pent-up in the unconscious like for- 
eign bodies, because they are neither discharged by physical 
movements of expression nor in normal manner by associative 
elaboration. That which remains behind at that period, the 
analysis has to search out. It aids in this discharge, or as we 
say, in this * ' abreaction. ' ' f 

The experiences of almost two decades have taught us, how- 
ever, that this abreaction is not exactly correct, though the 
original assumption to-day still seems intelligible. In order to 
gain lucidity, we will proceed from our insight into the nature 
of the repression and fixation. 

* Breuer und Freud, Studien, p. 4. 
f Same, p. 13. 

446 



THE ABREACTION 447 

1. Necessity for the Abreaction 

If an idea accompanied by strong emotion is repressed and 
fortified by its autistic gain of pleasure, the instinct to which 
this idea belongs, suffers, within a certain circle of activity, a 
damming up which often persists for a lifetime. One finds 
many elderly people who have possessed their hysteria, for 
example, vertigo, automatisms of the muscles of the jaw, 
astasia, etc., for decades. Freud makes a comparison from 
Jensen's "Gradiva" which illustrates this state of affairs 
beautifully: the repression, he says, resembles the burial of 
Pompeii.* That which was buried, remains unchanged under 
the thick covering. Upon excavation, it disintegrates. Thus 
the repressed material persists, the fixed instincts can develop 
no farther. The analysis first creates the possibility of free- 
ing the imprisoned instinct. Frequently, however, neurotic 
symptoms disappear without analytic assistance. Of course 
this is far from, saying that the attached force with its full 
contribution of energy has been conducted to a free life de- 
velopment. Rather, the repressed ideas persist or more cor- 
rectly expressed, the instincts fixed at one place (the complex) 
by repression (negative) and automatism (positive) in their 
relative fixation, find new channels, under certain circum- 
stances, highly valuable ones, in order to expend their energy. 

Thus for example, a religious cure can eliminate the patho- 
logical phenomena. In this case, the demand of the instinct, 
which is in conflict with the internal and external forces, is 
sublimated. The retention of the repression is no longer neces- 
sary and possible because the demand of the instinct when 
sublimated, is satisfied. 

Or the dammed-up instinct breaks a way into reality and 
knows how to enjoy itself there. Hysteria, resulting from 
burning desire without gratification, may be extinguished in 
marriage. 

Or the repressing force may be released. The onanist finds 
that his spinal cord is not destroyed, the adulterer finds an 

* Freud, Gradiva, p. 42. 



MS THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

easy peace of mind in the promise of good conduct. Since, 
according to our findings, the inner motives for repression and 
fixation are more important than the external ones, so the 
overcoming of the repressing force by pastoral instruction is 
to be named among the best methods making for mental health. 
Hence the indisputable results of the consoling Christian 
Science which combats anxiety, of the invoking of the saints 
and similar religious healing forces. Also the barrier which 
causes the forward-longing instinct to ever regress into in- 
fantilism may be surmounted by a moral venture, a strength- 
ening of the ethical nature. 

All these outcomes are possible, without the unconscious con- 
ditions having been previously transferred to consciousness. 
Proceeding from such experiences, many educators hope to 
get along without analysis and to eliminate the disturbance of 
morals, religion or health by simply opening new channels. 

Whether this is possible cannot be decided by general theo- 
retical construction but only by experience. I am constantly 
amazed anew at those numerous educators, neurologists and 
psychiatrists who, on the one hand, discuss with extreme 
modesty, indeed with evident resignation, the possibilities of 
their professional skill, but on the other hand, however, an- 
nounce to the world with proud plerophoria that psycho- 
analysis may be dispensed with in all cases. 

The facts decide. They afforded us the proof that a great 
number of patients whom previous methods, applied by recog- 
nized physicians and educators over long periods, had not 
helped, were cured by analysis. 

Let us examine more closely the non-analytic release of pent- 
up life-instinct in patients and healthy individuals. 

The religious cures have done good to countless individuals 
and made them happy, healthy, ethically valuable people. 
Where this end has been accomplished, no unprejudiced edu- 
cator, pastor or physician will urge analysis. But do we not 
see among the personalities who have caused the needs of their 
complexes to flow into religious channels, besides great phe- 
nomena, an immense number of troubles and moral defects? 



RELIGION AND REPRESSION 449 

Innumerable monks and nuns suffer from severe hysteria, 
obsessional neurosis or other tortures. Countless strictly re- 
ligious men and women get into awful sadism and masochism 
so that the history of religion drips with blood. One needs 
think only of the burning of witches, persecutions of heretics, 
wars over faith, self-torture even to suicide (for example, 
Saint Elizabeth) in which the repressed material ever emerged 
in the center of piety, the ghastly deed was performed in the 
name of God! Countless persons come to foolish, immoral, 
bizarre ideas, to orthodox and ceremonial fanaticism, in which 
the life-instinct is wasted in immoral, unproductive manner in 
automatism. Countless more fall to a great narrowing of the 
mental horizon, other multitudes to a weak flight from the 
world, a cowardly, inefficient attitude toward the future life 
which leaves this one desolate. Religion, grand and wonderful 
as it stands before us in its pure form, often changes, accord- 
ing to the testimony of history, from a benefactress to a se- 
ducer and instigator of grievous injustice. The position of 
Jesus toward marriage, toward neighbors, toward self-love 
show that he denied the investing of all love in God. If you 
will do God the highest honor, love thy neighbor as thyself. 
This is His profound conception of the destiny of the life- 
instinct. 

Much less still, can the direct discharge of the instinct in 
sensuous activity save people. Freud expressly proves that 
the psychosexual is the most important.* He affords the proof 
that the highest mental powers participate in sexuality and 
seek gratification in it. He has shown the eminently moral 
character of the sexual life and the relatively subordinate im- 
portance of the animalistic side of it in a manner to cause every 
unprejudiced ethicist to rejoice, even though other thoughts of 
Freud cannot find so much approbation. 

In general, the change in the life-relationships can happen 
so favorably that the life-instinct ventures out of its subter- 
ranean hiding place into the life struggle. But who would 
wait for this dispensation coming from without? Is it not 

* Freud, U. "wilde" Psa. Zbl. I, p. 92 S. 



450 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

wiser to put the person in a position to frame a useful life 
with the means at his disposal ? 

Finally, the wisest religious and moral pastoral training is 
not sufficient in severe cases. Indeed Jesus recognized this 
fact as mentioned on page 440, and he who knows the founda- 
tions of health perceives that it must be so. The skilled an- 
alyst is far superior to the best non-analytic pastoral in- 
structor against many manifestations. If he is strongly 
religious and has an energetic religious person to deal with, a 
pure, healthy piety will probably be the end result of the 
treatment while much morbid religious fanaticism must fall 
by the way. 

The ethical and religious demands, the admonition, punish- 
ment, reward, instruction concerning the results of the action, 
etc., are nevertheless entirely ineffective when an inner fixation 
exists, to release the instinct. If one speaks to certain victims 
of the obsessional neurosis, who suffer from a feeling of guilt, 
of God's grace and forgiveness, one acts like a child which 
would wish away the spots of light on the wall instead of re- 
moving the source of the light. The conscious guilt is not at 
all the real one (compare above, page 75 pathological lying, 
page 76 kleptomania). Or if one wishes to convert with 
Bible and reason a person who wants to transfer to a bizarre, 
immoral sect, one usually accomplishes little because the actual 
forces acting in that piousness lie below the threshold of con- 
sciousness. I have seen many persons who strained every 
nerve to free themselves from moral defects by means of ascetic 
practices, repentance and prayer, accomplish nothing except 
doubt, pathological crippling of the will (abulia) or strength- 
ening of the vice. Analysis brought them salvation without 
compulsion and torture. 

Therefore, for a great number of moral, religious and hy- 
gienic defects, psychoanalysis is not only the surest, shortest 
and relatively pleasantest method of treatment but indeed the 
only possible and hence imperative one (compare chapter 26). 



PROCESS OF ABREACTION 451 

2. The Process of Abreaction 

(a) The abreaction as outlet by expressive movement and 
associative connection. 

The results which the abreaction is meant to accomplish, the 
telling to other persons, has been warmly recommended from 
antiquity by people who understood human nature. Not only 
the New Testament and Catholic confessional but also certain 
great poets have so treated it. Shakespeare (Macbeth V-1) 
testifies as we heard : 

"Unnatural deeds 
Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds 
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets: 
More needs she the divine than the physician." 

Goethe says: 

"The disease of the mind 

Most easily resolves into complaints and confidences." * 

To Frau von Stein, he writes on Sept. 25, 1811: "Yester- 
day evening I did a very clever feat. Herder was all the time 
strained to the most hypochondriacal state over everything 
unpleasant which had happened to her in Carlsbad. I had 
her tell and confess to me everything improper in others and 
herself with most minute details and results and finally I ab- 
solved her and made her cheerful, comprehensible under the 
formula that these things were now done with and thrown into 
the depths of the sea. She became very gay over it and is 
actually cured. ' ' f 

In his religio-psychologieal romance, "Theobald oder die 
Schwarmer,"$ which is highly interesting, Goethe's friend 
Jung, called Stilling, describes the cure of a melancholic hyster- 
ical person. The pastor Bosius converses with the patient in 
uncommonly sympathetic manner and guides her to the eon- 

• Goethe, Tasso, III, p. 2. 
t From Stekel, Angstzustande, p. 7. 

t Heinrich Stillung, Theobald oder die SchwSrmer. Frankf. and 
Leipzig, 1802, I, p. 259 ff. 



452 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ception that love is the supreme end of nature. ' ' Everything 
loves in the order in which the Creator has placed it." "Are 
you not stirred by the fact that the Eternal Love pours love 
into all creation? What do you understand by the word, 
love?" The patient answers : "Impelling force (instinct) to 
union, to be one with the beloved." The pastor continues: 
' ' You feel, deep in your soul, the instinct for union with some- 
thing which you love ; obstacles which stand in the way of your 
love make you shut-off because you consider them insurmount- 
able; hence you are melancholic."* He expresses funda- 
mentally the whole situation, lets the girl open her heart, 
cleverly defends the rights of sensuality, as well as the 
sublime significance of marriage and helps her to obtain the 
beloved. t 
We find similar confessional efforts in the writings of 

* Same, p. 264. 

t Jung-Stilling has the correct insight into the nature of hysteria. 
He has his pastor say: "Your (the patient's) weak body is not strong 
enough to bear the passion which burns in your soul, the imagination 
busies itself unceasingly with the beloved object, you may struggle 
against it as you will, thereby the feeling only increases. . . . When 
the feelings mount higher than the nervous system, already weak% 
ened apart from this by many pious ideas, can bear, then a fever must 
result. As soon, however, as there is a fever, the cause of which, as 
in this case, can be removed by no other medicine than the gratification 
of the love, then the symptoms of the fever ever continue, these again 
have their results and thus the malady becomes ever more complex. . . . 
A girl is held back by shame from speaking of that which principally 
engrosses her mind, namely of her beloved, the longing for him re- 
mains ever deeply hidden; he who does not know of this circumstance, 
and also does not recognize the cause, never guesses the cause, the 
physician says: the person is hysterical, that is about the same as saj'- 
ing, she is sick — sometl.ing which everyone sees. Now the cause of this 
illness lies in the imagination, something which borders nearest to the 
nerves; because of shame, this cause never comes to light, on the other 
hand, the other ideas which in good and pious girls, ordinarily con- 
cern religion, reveal themselves so much the stronger ; now the external 
senses are very weak because the nerves are weak, while on the other 
hand, the internal senses or the imagination are so much the stronger, 
so much the more lively — what is the result? Dreams — and indeed of a 
particular kind. . . ." (There follows a corresponding theory of hal- 
lucination and religious ecstasy.) "You see that the feelings of love 
are the whole cause of these supposedly heavenly revelations." I, 290- 
292). 



VALUE OF UNCONSCIOUS MATERIAL 453 

Justinus Kerner * and of Pastor Blumhardt, father and son, in 
''Bad Boll."t 

Bismarck writes: *'It is laudable and praiseworthy to 
break one's self of useless or injurious outbreaks of feeling, or 
to give them another more acceptable form, but I call it self- 
compulsion which makes one ill within, when one stifles his 
feelings within himself." 

Before Freud, however, attention was fixed almost wholly on 
the conscious painful material. Only gifted students of the 
mind like Jung-Stilling, penetrated deeper. The Catholic 
confessional is, moreover, one-sided in other respects : It fixes 
its attention on the guilt instead of also taking into considera- 
tion the sui3f:ering. It makes the confessional compulsory and 
leads to punishment by the Church; thereby, the resistance 
against the disclosure of the unconscious material is power- 
fully strengthened. It is satisfied with cursory examination 
instead of carefully seeking the circumstances which led to the 
origin of the evil. And yet it does untold good while the 
Protestant pastoral instruction, which is in a far more favor- 
able position, stands hesitating in the midst of wickedness. 
When I have had unhappy people confide in me, their hearts 
overflowing with need, I have been reproached that this was 
a regression to Catholicism! For the evangelical pastor, the 
aim in question is not a cultistic servitude to the confessional 
as a means of supernatural grace, but an ethical, hence really 
God-pleasing, purification purpose and hygienic process which 
will gain a great amount of inhibited forces for the affairs of 
God and therewith for the affairs of men. In this sense, the 
teacher must also be religious instructor and who denies that 
there have always been spiritually-minded educators ? t 

The follower of the cathartic method and the psychoanalyst 
go a step farther still by exposing the unconscious to the light 

* H. Silberer, U. d. Behandlung einer Psychose bei Justinus Kerner. 
Jahrb. Ill, p. 725 ff. 

t A. Mutbmann, Psyehiatrisch-theologiscbe Grenzfragen. Zschr. f. 
Kel-psycb. I, p. 136 flf. 

t In this direction, psychoanalysis is only a scientific refinement of a 
method practiced intuitively. 



454 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

of consciousness. By so doing, they obtain a series of new 
results which would have been impossible before. 

To-day, however, no experienced physician and educator 
doubts that merely with the full expression in words, even 
though accompanied by tears and affects, the healing of the 
trouble caused by fixation is not always accomplished. One 
symptom very deeply analyzed may persist unchanged, while 
another one disappears upon superficial exploration, even 
without analysis. Thus, there must be still other forces acting 
besides the associative outpouring. 

(b) The abreaction as mental outcropping of the uncon- 
scious. 

The analysis penetrates into the depths and discovers the 
mole which throws up its piles of earth on the surface. It 
shows not only the latent thoughts but also the repressing 
thoughts, the original instinctive tendency as well as the oppos- 
ing tendency arising from within or without. Now we know 
that the symptom was a means for concealing the unconscious 
thoughts and at the same time for giving them some measure 
of expression. Thus, we shall expect that the unmasked 
symptom will disappear like a developed but unfixed photo- 
graphic negative in the daylight. An associative connection 
is simultaneously joined to the mental outcropping. Thus 
with the becoming conscious and acceptance of the analytic 
interpretation, the manifestation will have to fade, somewhat 
like life according to Uhland 's saying : 

"He who sees only truth, has lived to the end, 
Life is like the stage, there as here, 
When the illusion fades, the curtain must fall." 

As a fact, we see a multitude of simple and gravely severe 
signs of disease disappear as soon as they have lost their incog- 
nito, as a thief disappears from the field of the camera as 
quickly as possible when he knows that he is recognized. 

Why may other symptoms remain ? One might assume that 
there were still deeper overdeterminants than those discovered. 
This view is irrefutable for one can never pursue a symptom 



EXTENT OF THE ANALYSIS 455 

to the absolute beginnings of all the threads in its enormously 
ramified network. Every analysis is incomplete. Thus one 
might conceive of an inner fixation from past causes. But as 
often as we carefully investigate a symptom, we also find 
present causes, according to Freud, the foremost are the striv- 
ing for avoidance of discomfort and the resistance against the 
analyst who is unconsciously identified with the father, accord- 
ing to Adler, a tendency toward assurance, according to Jung, 
resistance against fulfillment of duty connected with the sacri- 
fice of precious infantilism, according to all three men, fear of 
reality. The neurotic individual knows what he has in his 
automatism but he does not know what may happen from the 
abandonment of it. Fear of the unknown constantly drives 
him back into the regression. Hence he represses with 
astounding force the results gained by analysis, forgets them, 
throws suspicion on them with miserable rationalizations and 
incorporates new phantasies in the symptom. He acts like 
an invited guest who brings forward a thousand excuses in 
order to remain at home. Under some circumstances, he 
creates new symptoms, or, and this is the most fatal, he with- 
draws still deeper into his complexes. The latter can occur 
particularly in dementia precox. Where the isolation from 
the outer world increases, the educator is under obligations to 
call the psychiatrist into consultation at once. 

With the pure analysis, the end is not at once attained. 
Freud remarks: "It is a conception long ago exploded and 
dependent on most superficial appearances that the patient 
suffers from a kind of ignorance and that when one removes 
this ignorance by communication (concerning the causal con- 
nections of his malady with his suffering, concerning his child- 
hood experiences, etc.) he must become well. This ignorance 
is not in itself the pathogenic agency but the foundation of 
ignorance in inner resistances which have first occasioned the 
ignorance and still maintain it. " * Analysis shows where the 
instinct is attached and thereby renders possible its release. 
It resembles the sword of the prince which cuts through the 

* Freud, \J. "wilde" Psa. Zbl. I, p. 94. 



456 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

hedge surrounding the castle of the Sleeping Beauty. But 
the liberating force is still lacking. The analysis shows 
whither the attack should be directed, it performs scouting 
service but it does not at once drive out the enemy. In what 
direction the life-instinct will apply itself, that is the great 
question, upon which the relief of the inhibition of the instinct 
depends. That this fact was not visible at first, is due to the 
circumstance of the fortunate, spontaneous new canalization 
of the life-instinct in the cases observed at that period. 

Generally, one allows the patient to say as much as he wishes. 
The more he produces, the better. And if he speaks ever so 
meanly of his father, ever so vulgarly of God, women or of 
any subject, one quietly allows him to proceed. The dirty 
stuff should be abreacted, at all events, it should be told to the 
educator as much as possible. The physician has the most 
disgusting stomach-contents emptied out by vomiting. Jesus 
says: "Judge not that ye be not judged" (Mat. vii, 1). 
These words, the analyst should keep in mind, for he knows 
that the evil impulses of the unconscious are everywhere pres- 
ent in greater or less degree and that many high and noble 
powers make their appearance when these can be utilized.* 

* He who believes that psychoanalysis reveals only the b^te humaine 
in men, is greatly in error. Freud has shown in the capacity of men 
for sublimation, how far man transcends the lower animals. The 
dark background of the instinct is not the whole man. The countless 
illnesses from moral conflicts (fimdamentally, all neuroses are the re- 
sults of ethical complications) show that the ethical trend belongs to 
the fundamental tendencies of the human soul. 



CHAPTER XVII 

COMPENSATION, RECASTING OF THE COMPLEX 
AND TRANSFERENCE 

We have perceived before that analysis opens the cell of the 
prisoner. That he leaves the cell, analysis does not vouch for. 
Some have become so accustomed to prison life that it would be 
too unpleasant to venture out into reality. Their will to health, 
the indispensable condition to the overcoming of the inhibition, 
is too small to exert a counter-pressure against the complex. 
They like to remain in infantilism. They submit to automatism 
according to the principle of the least expenditure of effort. 
They disclose the fact that even severe neurotic suffering affords 
a certain, even though unpleasant, protective measure against 
moral demands and mental needs and they would escape the 
hard struggle for the ethical life content. What the educator 
has to initiate in such pupils, for example, lazy or rebellious 
boys who vent their hatred of their fathers upon the teacher, the 
second chapter following (19) will show. For the time being, 
we have to deal only with the changes which the analytic prob- 
ing brings about. 

1, Compensation 

The life-instinct, frightened by external or internal changes 
(not merely by the analysis), seeks a substitute manifestation. 
If the repulsion which proceeds from the humdrum uniformity 
of life is too severe in denial or too unpleasant, if further, the 
attraction by pleasurable relations, partially or wholly uncon- 
scious, is too powerful, then a neurotic symptom arises, in 
which, perhaps, one can hardly perceive its near relationship to 
the antecedent conditions. We have already shown a number 
of such symptom-formations appearing during the analysis or 
independently of it. 

457 



458 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

(Clucking, itching of the scalp, skin eruption 33f, tearing 
the skin on the thumb, eating carrots, playing the violin 215). 

A particularly fine example may be added : The youth men- 
tioned on pages 90 and 331 showed in the first two analytic 
sessions the following changing forms in his writing cramp oc- 
curing immediately during the analysis : 

1. Strong tension of the hand, fourth and fifth fingers anes- 
thetic. Motive : The hysterical youth, because of inner con- 
flicts (negative father-complex, fetichism) cannot "fulfill" his 
external duties. The cramp creates an excuse. The writing 
teacher, a specialist for writer's cramp, advised him to correct 
the faulty position of the hand by India rubber bands which 
were placed about the last two fingers. Thereupon the fingers 
went to sleep. The wished-for emancipation from sexual de- 
sire is symbolically expressed. 

2. Only the thumb suffers from tension. Pretended motive : 
"If the rubber rings are removed, I still remain inhibited." 

3. Automatic drawing back of the fourth and fifth fingers. 
Motive : "I fall back into the old fetters and am retired. ' ' 

4. Fatigue of both hands ; Motive : Tired of life. 

5. Weak tension, pronounced sweating of the two last fingers. 
Motive : ' ' Though I sweat from endeavor, I do not escape the 
enf eeblement. I sweat as soon as I have to speak with a lady, I 
accomplish nothing." 

6. Feeling that the bones of the hand, particularly those of 
the middle finger, are broken. Latent thought: "If I am a 
broken man, nothing can be expected of me." 

7. The whole arm is drawn backwards, hand normal. 
Motive: "What help is it to become free in one place if the 
whole person is inhibited?" 

8. Tension in only one joint of hand which is pressed towards 
the right. Latent cramp thought : ' ' You were shoved aside. ' ' 

9. The same tension with sweating. Association: "The 
position of my hand is faulty, that throws me into anxiety." 

10. Contracture of the hand toward the left. Motive: "If 
I am not repudiated on one side, I am on the other. ' ' 

11. Tension in the middle of the hand up to the elbow. 



LAW OF COMPENSATION 459 

Motive: "The inner inhibition remains, even though I am 
shoved neither toward left nor right. ' ' 

The subsequent test of the writing turned out exactly the 
same. One sees that the analysis of symptoms, in severe cases, 
accomplishes nothing so far as the complex is not hit in the 
center and the resistance lowered. We find plainly the phe- 
nomenon of compensation and recall that we also found above 
(90) spontaneous change of symptoms in writer's cramp re- 
sulting from changes in the unconscious wishes at the moment 
of symptom-formation. 

The forms of the compensations are very manifold. Each 
manifestation can be considered as such. Ferenczi has col- 
lected a pretty group of rapidly interchanging substitute forma- 
tions occasioned by analysis.* 

Many of these formations are new additions of symptoms 
previously present, many, quite new. Many have come by 
paths of inner association, many by those of outer ones. 

The law of compensation applies also to normal individuals. 
A drinker is to be considered as cured only when he has found 
a substitute of similar or superior value, for example, religion, 
friendship, music, authority, family life. Also for the onanist, 
a superior value must be made accessible. Without such an 
"inducement" (Freud), many a person does not decide on 
separating the life-instinct from the inferior function. 

Highly valuable substitute formations, especially sublima- 
tions, to which a patient directs his life-instinct, should, there- 
fore, not be disturbed. I made the acquaintance of a patient 
to whom the analyst had forbidden charitable work while she 
longed for it. In its place she was to live fully in the marriage 
relation. The effect was that her love turned passionately to 
the physician and regardless of how forcibly he explained to 
her the unreality and origin of this inclination, she clung to 
him; with this love and gratitude, of course, a truly raging 
wrath went hand in hand. Hence she felt immeasurably un- 
happy and incapable of living. She called psychoanalysis a 

* Ferenczi, U. paasagere Symptombildungen wahrend der Analyse. 
Zbl. II, pp. 588-596. 



460 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

pleasant but base method since it brought the patients into 
slavish, immoral dependence upon the physician and showed 
the person the vileness of his own nature only to consign him 
to his disgrace. Two hours sufficed to dissolve the fixation on 
the physician who had treated the very sick patient in vain four 
years according to Dubois and three years according to Freud, 
and to substitute a sublimated relation to me as well as to 
give her self-esteem by participation in philosophical works 
and religious reassurance. Further, an hysterical symptom of 
twenty -two years' duration disappeared. One year later, she 
confirmed her continuing health, happiness and proper attitude 
toward God, family, fellowmen and life in general. For 
psychoanalysis, she had only words of astonished admiration. 
She was entirely independent of me. She promised to inform 
me immediately of the slightest disturbance but never let me 
hear anything from her again. 

The analyst should allow the compensations to be retained so 
far as they do not bring with them new dangers and inexpedi- 
encies and not try to see if he can guide the life-instinct into 
paths which suit himself personally best. 

2. Molding and Eemolding of the Complex 

It has been shown in various places how the unconscious tries 
to adapt all possible experiences and ideas to its complex. In 
dreams, waking phantasies, morbid symptoms, reactions, eryp- 
tolalia and cryptography, etc., one finds an enormous amount of 
such contents which are estimated in the sense of gratification 
of the complex or of the wish. In my ' ' Analj^tic Investigations 
of the Psychology of Hate and Reconciliation, " * I formulated 
the following law : 

The repressed hate of certain individuals forms phantasies 
out of suitable contents of experience, either actual or imagi- 
nary, according to the laws of the dream-work, by which pro- 
cedure, it creates for itself imaginary gratification. This 
gratification of complex comes about through the mechanism of 
a disguised wish, directed toward the injury of the hated per- 

• Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna, p. 25, 



MECHANISM OF COMPLEX-MOLDING 461 

son, being represented in the content of the waking-dream as 
realized. The sexual component of the hate appears in the 
form of sadism and masochism. The "pleasure of hate" re- 
veals its secret to the analysis. 

To-day, I am ready to amplify that law and express the law 
of the molding by the complex in the following form : 

Every complex forms phantasies from suitable contents ex- 
perienced or merely imagined, according to the laws of the 
dream-work, by which mechanism it aims to create for itself 
imaginary gratification without understanding the true mean- 
ing of the phantasies. 

The mechanism of the complex-molding, we describe as fol- 
lows: These phantasies, sometimes wholly, sometimes par- 
tially, unconscious, are occasioned by an inhibition in the pres- 
ent and utilize the regression into the recent and ever more re- 
mote past (infantilism) in order to gain autistically favorable 
perspectives for the future. 

We add the new formula as generalization of the assertion 
previously expressed : * " During longer duration or sharpen- 
ing the complex ever makes use of new contents in order to deck 
out the previous phantasies or to create entirely new ones. 
These new formations express the variations of the complex 
with the finest nuances. ' ' 

Good examples were afforded me by the artist whose crypto- 
graphic series I have described elsewhere t ; further examples 
by the religious speaker with tongues mentioned in my mono- 
graph-t 

We recall also that the complex-molding, as autistic per- 
formance, represents (459) a compensation for actual gratifica- 
tion and thus far signifies a compensation. 

Particularly noteworthy is the fact that with the change of 
the complex, not simply new phantasies are assumed but that 

* Same, p. 40. 

t Kryptolalie, Kryptograpliie u. unbew. Vexierbild b. Normalen. 
Jahrb. V. (1913), p. 130 ff. 

t Die psychologische Entratselung d. rel, Glossolalie u. autom. Krypto- 
grapbie, pp. 19-92. 



46^ THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

a regression to the earlier phantastic manifestations occurs, in 
order to extend the change to them. This happens before any 
analysis but comes to view in it. A new love relation, for ex- 
ample, is not conceivable without reversion in the dreams and 
phantasies to the earlier analogous situations and the charac- 
teristics of earlier objects being superimposed upon the later 
ones. 

In my analyses of hate and reconciliation phantasies, I saw 
for the first time in what astonishingly clever manner the 
elaboration of the earlier pictures is executed when the complex 
changes suddenly to the opposite : All phantasies are, as one 
might say, provided with a negative sign and rendered innocu- 
ous. Therewith the earlier scene is either retained, accom- 
panied by tears, or the criticism of it covered by a black wall : 
Previously, the complex-ruled poet saw his brother as dying 
diver (344), now he comes by the stimulus word, "Erde" 
(earth) to the secret, water, etc. Associated with water, he sees 
the dying diver hidden by a black wall.* It also happens that 
the picture seems dissolving, transient. Many times, the tragic 
figure is replaced by one similar to it but not tragic, perhaps 
even comic. Or the scene may be split into several harmless 
ones, or inversely, several horrible phantasies may be welded 
into one harmless one. Further, sublimation with condensation 
and disjection may occur. 

A further interesting example is the sudden change of re- 
ligious ideas in the case of conversion ; up to a certain degree, 
this must be considered as manifestation. Considered purely 
psychologically, conversion is a reaction-formation. Hence it 
does not surprise us that after the conversion, the religious ideas 
suddenly change into the opposite, thus, are not entirely new 
where they are formed independently and are not mere prod- 
ucts of suggestion. Rather, the one-time religious contents per- 
sist, but in the sublimation they are changed into their oppo- 
sites. The Apostle Paul shows this very beautifully. As a 
'Jew, he suffers from an anxiety-neurosis because he cannot ful- 
fill the ''law of the flesh" or the "law in the members" accord- 
* Same, p. 27, compare also p. 337, 399. 



RELIGIOUS CONVERSION 463 

ing to the law of the spirit (Romans vii). So much the more 
fanatically does he hold to the "Law of Moses" (obsessional 
neurotic displacement) . He hates Christ because the latter re- 
places the law by the free demands of love and therewith dis- 
turbs the asylum of the complex-need, the ceremonialism and 
orthodoxy; Christ must be the accursed one because the law 
condemns everj^one who hangs on the tree or changes a letter of 
the law. After his conversion, all these ideas return, recast : 
instead of the flesh, spiritual dominion and heavenly body, 
instead of the law, freedom, instead of Christ the Wicked One, 
Christ the Holy One, the Spirit, the Son of God, who had to be 
bom of the flesh and was saved in the resurrection from the 
flesh — this too betrays the need for express revocation — in- 
stead of the ignominious elevation on the cross, elevation to 
divine majesty in pre- and post-existence,* instead of the 
cross, a pillar of shame, the cross, a power of God ( I Cor. i, 
18). The letter killeth, the spirit (previously powerless) 
maketh alive (II Cor. iii, 6). 

It seems to me that we can sum up this very important law of 
complex-remolding in the following formula : 

When a complex changes its direction or loses in intensity, 
the earlier complex-phantasies are in great part, perhaps alto- 
gether, not simply replaced by completely new ones, but first 
of all subjected to an elaboration which manifests the new 
complex-attitude. 

Proceeding from the standpoint of ideas, we can formulate 
the proposition: Every new psychic content arranges itself 
with earlier analogous contents while it is conditioned by them 
in its conception and elaboration, or recasting them, seeks to 
bring them into harmony with itself. 

This law, in which the organic unity of the mental life is 
expressed, I call the psychological law of reference. 

Before a thought or endeavor has executed this active or pas- 
sive arrangement, it does not belong to the fixed mental pos- 
sessions. 

* H. Holtzmann, Lehrb. d. neutest. Theologie, Freiburg and Leipzig, 
1897, Vol. II, p. 81 ff. 



464 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

The significance of punishment, of expiation, indeed of the 
analysis, consists chiefly in the circumstance that the contents 
of ideas and volitions to be denied are made clearly accessible, 
and thereby accessible to the conscious remodeling. From the 
necessity for relative confrontation is explained also the regres- 
sion so far as it is not absolute. The regression is only a stage 
in the process of reference. From, the same necessity, to 
establish the unity of the mental life, is explained also the 
important phenomenon which we have now to discuss, the 
transference. 

3. The Transference 
(a) its forms of phenomena 

A form of compensation proceeding from regression and 
indeed the most important for the progress and outcome of the 
analysis and the hardest to deal with, is the transference. 
Freud describes it in these words: "Transferences are new 
editions, copies of the impulses and phantasies which should be 
awakene^and made conscious during the progress of the analy- 
sis, with a replacement, characteristic for the class, of an earlier 
person by the person of the physician. To put it differently, a 
whole series of earlier psychic experiences is revived, not as 
past but as actually pertaining to the person of the physi- 
cian." * The transference occurs unconsciously in every close 
pastoral relation. Psychoanalysis merely discloses that which 
happens everywhere, but it must also awaken the hostile im- 
pulses and therewith feelings of denial which are projected 
upon the analyst t and easily change the affection (positive 
transference) into its opposite (negative transference). 

In the transference, also, a manifest and a latent contribution 
is to be differentiated. It may happen that in consciousness 
there may be the strongest love for the analyst, while in the un- 
conscious, grim hostility against him may hold sway. The 
transference is to be recognized most clearly when the charac- 

• Freud, Bruchstuch. Kl. Schr. II, p. 104. 
t Same, p. 105. Gradiva, p. 78. 



THE TRANSFERENCE 465 

teristics of other persons are openly attributed to the analyst, 
for example, the eyes of the seducer (246), or when he is even 
identified with another person, for example, with the physician 
who had performed an operation in the first year of life (123, 
265 ) . I will add a rather exaggerated example : 

It concerned a youth of seventeen years, who, on account of 
severe melancholia, turning against all people, temporary ex- 
citements and all kinds of physical defects associated with these 
things, had come to me for special education. I limited myself 
to a very superficial analysis which revealed to him the causes 
of his condition and the necessity of a suitable utilization of 
instinct in the direction of religion, love for neighbors and ful- 
filment of duty. After the fourth session, he explained to me 
triumphantly that he felt entirely well and could henceforth 
help himself. Only later did I find out that he had at that time 
made the acquaintance of a fine girl and been kindly received 
in her family. 

A year later, the depression returned, which did not surprise 
me in view of the previous superficial treatment. It proved 
that he had been thrown out of poise by a conflict with his be- 
loved. When I sought information concerning further symp- 
toms and asked especially after hallucinations, I discovered to 
my surprise that the patient had formerly for a space of three 
to four years, viewed himself in the mirror as dead, in the figure 
of a skeleton dressed in a white cloth. Previously, he had a 
strikingly strong fondness for a death 's head. After the first 
conversations with me, the phenomena ceased. I remarked to 
my patient that we would speak next of his youth — a violence 
which was at once avenged, for the unconscious does not allow 
its tasks to be imposed by command. 

My visitor told of his old hate for his parents, brothers and 
sisters. The father had handed him over to his grandfather 
for education up to his eleventh year and yet shamelessly drew 
for this, a kind of wage money, indeed from time to time, he had 
increased the amount demanded. The grandmother had died 
in the insane asylum. 

Suddenly the patient's facial expression changed, his hair 



466 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

stood up, terror spoke from his distorted features. He cried 
out anxiously : ' ' Why do you look at me so sharply ? " [I am 
not doing so at all.] ' ' Yes ! You are the skeleton, you wear a 
white cloth about your face and body, you are Death ! I can- 
not look at you longer!" [Calm yourself; we will at once 
analyze this pretty hallucination. Imagine me as Death!] 
"My friend. The same thing happened to me with her re- 
cently. When I had a quarrel with her and she looked at me 
painfully disappointed, she seemed to me Death. I halluci- 
nated the same thing when I awoke at night. I had to arise and 
leave the house. The friend is the only person I love. Even 
for you, I do not feel affection but esteem. With you, I never 
felt free but rather when I went away from you. ' ' [The facial 
expression of the girl.] ' ' Reproachful, wish for reconciliation. 
I can never forgive her, however, for showing favor to another. ' ' 
[Your love is barred again, hence depression and excitement. 
You have previously wished for death, hence the hallucinations 
at that time. Your friend helped your life-desires to an outlet 
in reality. Since you thought to lose the loved one, you read 
death in her eyes and made the girl your murderer. Now con- 
sider the connection of your vision of to-day : You were telling 
first of the avaricious behavior of your father and of the death 
of your insane grandmother. Then you exclaimed : "Why do 
you look so sharply? Now?] "I explain it like this: I was 
raving at father. Then you occurred to me. I considered you 
as my father. To that, I come only this minute, I had thought 
the explanation in other regions. Now I can look at you quite 
well. Just as I found the solution, the white cloth went away, 
then the figure ; the eyes of Death remained a moment longer 
but faded when I looked at you a second time," 

We discussed at great length the position of the parents, their 
financial need, their worthy traits. After long inner combat, 
the youth begged me to speak with them and arrange a recon- 
ciliation. I would have preferred that the son had spoken his 
mind directly against them but could not expect too much. The 
reconciliation with the parents and girl friend came to pass but 
I lost my patient who was again feeling very happy. 



ANALYSIS OF HALLUCINATION 467 

Only ten weeks later, I received a second visit. I heard de- 
tails of his pleasure in considering skulls and the wish to possess 
such an one.* The death-hallucination was not determined by 
Kethel's picture ''Der Tod als Freund" (Death as Friend) for 
it occurred before the youth knew of the picture, the cloth also 
was differently arranged. Asked to associate to the latter, the 
youth mentioned first his beloved, whose facial expression never- 
theless was different. The features reminded him of a prosti- 
tute whom he once saw on the street, and then of another. 
Only after I had him think of the cloth of the dead, did he ex- 
claim: "Now I have it!" A girl relative had aroused his 
passions some four years before and claimed his consideration. 
This scene left behind a strong feeling of guilt. Scarcely had 
the cousin who wore just such a white cloth as the death 's head 
in the dream, departed, than the hallucinations broke out for 
the first time. 

Now, however, the analysis led to a surprising intermezzo. 
The youth found to his own astonishment, that he now phan- 
tasied me alternately in two different figures : at one time with a 
cloth, at another, without such. After some investigation, we 
found that I received the cloth as often as bending forward I 
sat before the evening sky but was free from the cloth when the 
white window post stood behind me. The face was imagined as 
a skull covered over with skin, with bulging eyes. The attitude 
in this hallucination produced the association that the father 
had looked sharply at his son after masturbation when both sat 
at table, whereupon the guilty one thought the father saw the 
practice in him ; then every time, out of hate and expiation, he 
changed hallucinatorily the feared one into the death's head. 
Before the session, the boy had fallen back into his error and 
identified me with the father. The latter, too, he sees as death 's 
head with and without a cloth, the latter at table, the former 
upon going to bed. 

The white background reminded him of the second sexual 
trauma which followed soon after the first : Our patient sur- 

* Compare Gottfreid Keller, Der griine Heinrich, III, p. 104 flf: Der 
Schadel des Albertus Zwiehan. 



468 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

prised his eight year-old sister as she was sitting on the sheet 
changing her shirt. The cousin on the other hand, who was 
accustomed to wear the cloth about her head, lay at that time on 
a dark sofa in the twilight. 

The hallucinations had often been called up voluntarily by 
wishing and had regularly appeared. The wish appeared, how- 
ever, only after onanism. 

Here, we plainly see the hallucination as identification of the 
analyst with the patient's father, wherewith the death's head 
served not only as expression of death but also as representation 
of the wish for highest life activity, for cohabitation, in relation 
to two objects who had excited him. The intermingling of 
the objects comes plainly to view here.* 

The following example may show a positive transference : A 
sixteen year-old girl dreamed : I held out to the piano teacher 
a paper, notes or something which he needed, as if to say to him, 
' ' There you have it ! " When he would take it, I always drew 
it away from him again. ' ' 

[To the whole dream?] "We have such papers in the insti- 
tute, programs, note paper. My brother says I am a piece of 
music : fine and long. He always vexes me. Therefore he can- 
not enter my room any more. ' ' 

[The paper.] ''Love letter. My teacher is officious and 
jealous of ray friend." [The teacher.] '' I formerly had one 
who had a little boy. Something concerning his marriage 
occurs to me. He idolized my mother as my father did for- 
merly. My friend must also rave over me. Now my right eye 
smarts." 

The piano teacher is myself since I too am admired by the 
girl like that teacher because of my performances on the piano, 
I have a son and agree with the dream figure in the detail given 
in regard to the marriage. I once called the mother of the 
refractory, hysterical girl a handsome woman when the daugh- 
ter would unjustly refer to her as old woman. The comparison 
with the father also stands out plainly. 

* We saw a fine example of negative transference in the phantasies of 
God, p. 247. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE TRANSFERENCE 469 

The paper which contains a love-letter or piece of music 
refers to the girl ("long and beautiful") and her love. She 
vs^ould like to provoke a counter-transference on my part and 
play with me. She will, however, also withhold her secret from 
me which really came to view at the nest session. The friend 
must appear in the role of father and analyst in order to be 
fully accepted. The pains in the eye refer to defloration- and 
birth-wishes. The refusal of the transference resulted in the 
girl's attempting, when she thought herself unobserved for a 
moment, to push away my chair and she frankly admitted that 
she would be glad if I were boUed or ground up in a mill. 
Further elucidation eliminated the hate, whereupon the analysis 
advanced farther. The following dream brought the solution 
of a riddle which had been sought for weeks. 

The analyst is accustomed to being now passionately loved, 
admired, deified, now hung, impaled or broken on the wheel 
with sadistic murder-lust. Ferenezi justly says : "A slightly 
less friendly remark, pointing to a duty or urging punctuality, 
or a little sharper tone on the part of the analyst, suffice to 
bring down upon him all the patient's unconscious hate directed 
against moralizing persons in authority (parents, husband)." * 

Freud found that always when the free associations of a 
patient, not merely the reports of such, stop, the patient's at- 
tention is busy with the analyst. The stopping may be imme- 
diately eliminated if one pays attention to this state of 
affairs, t 

(b) the psychological process of the transference 

The instinct ferreted out by analysis seeks, as we have 
heard, new manifestations. As compensation, the analyst 
comes into consideration as the nearest person. Every person 
bears within himself a portion of his life-force not realized, 
retarded in its development, which could find expression only 
autistically or remained in the unconscious. *'He whose love- 
need is not completely gratified by reality, must attach himself 

* Ferenezi, Introjektion u. Ubertragung. Jahrb. I, p. 426. 
t Freud, Z. tJbertragung. Zbl. II, p. 168. 



470 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

to every newly appearing person with expectant libidinous 
ideas and it is entirely probable that both portions of his libido, 
the conscious part as well as the unconscious, have a share in 
this attitude. " (Freud.)* 

It happens that the analyst, by virtue of his authority and 
his assisting attitude, appears in the place of the father and in 
the regression occasioned by the analysis furnishes an obvious 
carrier of emotion. He forms a composite figure with the 
father or if he bears mother characteristics (for example, ten- 
derness or thoughtfulness) he is joined to the mother, is identi- 
fied with the one or the other. The patient hopes also to be 
able to gain earlier autistic favors for the future. It may have 
been noticed already that the analyst should not play the father 
role with arrogant authority but treat the patient throughout 
as an equal, hereby affording the latter the consciousness of 
his self-determination, self-responsibility and value, unim- 
paired. 

The emotions applied to the analyst (man or woman) are 
therefore not genuine. They belong to a totally different per- 
son. He who is no vain or love-hungry person will accordingly 
very soon become indifferent to the positive or negative trans- 
ference as far as his own person is concerned. The love- 
hungry, vain beginner is violently affected when he sees himself 
ardently loved as he is vexed over the hate. In more sensible 
manner, one has to say, however, that one is not intended at all 
but the image which is projected into us. 

(C) THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TRANSFERENCE 

As little as we make for ourselves from the positive and nega- 
tive transference an erotic application in so far as it has us as 
analyst for object, we esteem it of great importance for health 
and education. It belongs to the most important steps in the 
way of the psychoanalytic treatment. 

Freud formulates the reason in the following way: "In a 
residuum of love, the process of healing is carried out, if we 

* Freud, Zur Dynamik d. ubertragung. Zbl. II, d. 168. 



SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TRANSFERENCE 471 

summarize all the manifold components * of the sexual instinct 
as love, and this residuum is indispensable, for the symptoms 
for which the treatment was undertaken, are nothing else 
than precipitates of earlier repression- or return-struggles and 
can only be dissolved and swept away by a new flood of the 
same passion. Every psychoanalytic treatment is an attempt 
to set free repressed love which had found a miserable compro- 
mise outlet in a symptom. ' ' f We remember to have heard 
that the life-desire, driven from the light of consciousness, can 
withdraw still deeper into infantilism and therewith be still 
more surely excluded from real elaboration. The analyst has 
now the opportunity of directing the life-desire, in statu nas- 
eendi, upon himself, thereby upon a bit of reality, and thus of 
building the bridge for a return to reality. He is thus at the 
decisive moment, since it is a question of still deeper introver- 
sion or return to real life, the knight who prevents the Sleep- 
ing Beauty from hiding in still more hidden castle chambers 
and who guides her back to the world. 

One can therefore confidently say : That which is the most 
decisive factor in the analysis is not merely the thoroughness 
and correctness of the mental illumination of the unconscious, 
but just as much, indeed still more, the person of the analyst 
who temporarily accepts the life-desire of the patient in order 
to transmit it to reality, to healthy moral life activities. Where 
the personality, freed from complex-illusion, can win in high 
degree, it will tear the fixed life-desire free from its stagnation 
in weak fixation, even after slight analysis, indeed without 
analysis (by suggestion). Where the personality is weak, the 
patient can often by his own power take the good way. In 
severe cases, however, both the analysis for setting free the life- 
desire and the transference for the purpose of enticing and 
provisional adaptation of the life-desire to reality are necessary. 
Analysis without transference easily leads to introversion, 
transference without analysis to counter-reaction, to false, 
slavish sublimation, to deification of authority, mental bondage 

* We would say : "active tendencies." 
t Freud, Gradiva, p. 78. 



472 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

and narrowing of the horizon, to incapacity for saving the soul 
in the highest meaning of the word and becoming a strong, free 
personality. 

(d) the treatment of the transference 

The correct treatment of the transference must also be tested 
out in tedious investigations and complete agreement has not 
yet been attained. 

We proceed from the consideration which we laid down re- 
garding the transference : To guard the neurotic against re- 
gression and introversion and to further the actual utilization 
of his life-instinct. From these points, the following formula- 
tions result : 

1. The negative transference is to he annulled 

This is accomplished first of all by careful anal/sis. Warm 
affection often rules in consciousness while in the unconscious, 
bitter hostility holds sway. Hence all hostile impulses are to 
be discovered and stripped of their power. If they gain the 
upper hand, the resistance gains the victory. Perhaps the 
patient may break off the treatment under threadbare rational- 
izations or he may give himself up to regression. Under certain 
circumstances, he seeks to treat the educator badly if the latter 
is so foolish as to allow it. Hence it is the analyst's duty to 
make clear to the refractory subject, without the slightest show 
of affect, that he is only continuing the methods practised 
against the father or is erroneously ascribing to the analyst un- 
kindnesses suspected of someone else. 

The relation to the pupil should be cordial, guided by genuine 
human love. Still, one never attempts to compel love in order 
to combat hate — possibly the father may have already at- 
tempted that sort of thing so that the resistance, the mistrust, 
is only strengthened. One should never give more praise in 
momentary exaltation than one could give upon more calm 
consideration. One never allows one's self to be overawed or 
put in bad humor when the patient complains of pretended 
slights, eapriciousness, etc. One appears as a strong man, 



POSITIVE TRANSFERENCE 47S 

conscious of his goal, with whom absolutely nothing is, to be ob- 
tained by defiance, not even a little vexation. 

2. The positive transference is to he accepted in analytically 
purified and sublimated form 

Freud emphasizes that the unobjectionable and conscious 
components of the transference may be the ' ' bearers of results ' ' 
as in other methods of treatment.* If someone should ask why 
the analysis is still necessary then, it must be said that often 
the transference may not be strong enough where the persist- 
ence of the instinct in the infantile fixation does not show 
through without analysis and therefore is not exposed. If one 
fears further that by the analysis of the transference, this rela- 
tion will be preserved, this fact will serve as assurance, that the 
analysis annuls only the neurotic, infantile characteristics of 
the transference improperly gained from interchange, but on 
the other hand, breaks a path to a healthy esteem of the analyst, 
a highly valuable affection. Riklin puts it in excellent form : 
' ' The transference relation is to be dissolved and changed into 
another relation in which the physician is really what he is, 
something which an actual relation to the rest of the world and 
not a relation distorted by the lenses of the transference-glasses 
brings about. ' ' t 

Hence the transference can never come to "being in love." 
"Where it comes to view as such, it is to be at once disclosed, 
though not brusquely, but as psychologically necessary, as illu- 
sory in nature and to be sublimated.^ It is quite in order that 
the subject may wish to be loved by the analyst but he should 
gain this love by valuable moral effort whereby he may grow in 
his love. This positive transference may therefore never be 
infantile, never excessive tenderness compelling flattery. 

• Zbl. II, p. 172. 

t Riklin, ij. Psa. Correspondenzbl. f. Schweizer Arzte, 1912, No. 27, 
p. 1019. 

X When it is hard for a beginner to tell a young girl that she is 
transferring upon him in amorous manner, he thereby betrays his vanity 
which causes him to forget that he is only an accidental erotic object 
and is not really meant at all. 



474 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

There are some persons who fairly exude evidences of love in 
order to blind the analyst, to guard their secret and to maintain 
the repression. Thus, the so-called incest may be executed in 
phantasy on the analyst for the father and this is to be pre- 
vented by dissolving the infantile relation. After the dissolu- 
tion of the false motive, there still always remains gratitude and 
confidence enough besides, to support a sympathetic relation to 
the analyst. 

The transference should also never lead to dependence. 
Otherwise, the subject of analysis retreats to his infantile role 
and guards well from becoming healthy and free. The analyst 
comes into the father- or mother-role and the childhood is 
further played as an ugly farce in the dress of the neurosis or 
character malformation. 

A strong reserve on the part of the analyst is also indicated 
because the patient likes to cling to him in order not to go out 
into reality and be compelled to fulfill his life-tasks. If the 
educator allows him to remain in this role, then all is lost. 
Languishingly, the pupil makes the most enormous demands for 
affection and avenges himself by holding fast to the symptom. 
The pampering analyst is an unskillful man. 

If the analyst proceeds brutally or clumsily with the break- 
ing of the positive transference, then it changes into its opposite 
and the libido regresses just so much the deeper. He who lays 
aside a transference form and has no new one in its place, will 
inevitably occupy again regressively the old transference way 
of an-earlier barbaric or past cultural stage, says Jung.* The 
transference is only to be dispensed with when other profitable 
compensations annul the fear of regression. Stekel thinks it 
is sufficient that the patient knows that the physician does not 
despise and does not love him.t I am of other opinion. Most 
pupils could not accept a pastor who remained unsympathetic 
upon the confession of the greatest need and would bring to an 
unemotional confessor of that kind, insuperable repulsion. 
Certainly, the analyst may not be led so far by his sympathy 

* Jung, Wandlungen, Jahrb. IV, p. 273. 

t Stekel, D. versch. Formen d. Ubertragxmg. Zbl. II, p. 29. 



TREATMENT OF TRANSFERENCE 475 

that he would lose the purely objective judgment. In this, I 
think Freud correct.* The sympathy must be kept in close 
check in order not to occasion autistic judgments and expose 
itself to the resistances of the patient. But I think that the 
latter must assume a large measure of sympathy in his coun- 
selor. Who would carry out a long and difficult analysis with- 
out inner sympathy? To conceal his good wishes artificially, 
imposes a dissimulation which must be betrayed and avenged. 
But of course the analyst should purify all counter-transfer- 
ence by keen autoanalysis and present absolutely nothing ex- 
cept sublimated human friendliness in order that he fall 
neither into the role of a father, injuring the independence of 
the youth, nor into that of a lover. 

To this end, consequently, the analytic physicians refuse 
every physical examination which might stimulate the exhibi- 
tion-instinct and refer the patient to another physician in case 
this is necessary, ordinarily to a specialist, f The educator will 
not once stroke the hands of the youth or lay his own hands on 
his shoulder. Upon every opportunity, he will show that he 
can and will be only a way to a free productive life. If this 
thought is constantly emphasized and supported by analysis, 
then it need not be feared that the transference will become too 
strong and leave the pupil dependent on the analyst. 

In order to obtain a sublimated relation to the subject di- 
rectly, one avoids all unnecessary confidences and relates as 
little as possible of one 's self, one 's own needs, weaknesses and 
fates. Only apparently does one thus bring the other to speak. 
In reality, one strengthens the resistance. Freud found : 
''This technique regularly fails in severe cases in the aroused 
insatiability of the patient who then greatly likes to reverse the 
relation and finds the analysis of the physician more interest- 
ing than his own. Further, the dissolution of the transference, 
one of the chief tasks of the treatment, is rendered difficult by 
the intimate attitude of the physician so that the possible gain 
at the beginning is finally more than offset. The physician 

* Freud, Zur Dynamik d. ijbertragung. Zbl. II, p. 436. 
f Hit&chmaain, p. 120. 



476 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

should be opaque to the analytic patients like a mirror and 
show nothing except that which is shown to him." * The edu- 
cator should also keep his pupil away from his family and 
household wherever possible. 

Also, in the analysis, the pedagogue seeks to make himself 
dispensable. He aids to self -analysis and the pupil's own 
compromise with reality. Thus far, Freud's method corre- 
sponds to that of Protestantism and stands diametrically op- 
posed to the Catholic institution of the confessional. 

* Freud, Zur Dynamik d. Ubertragung, p. 488. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

RENDERING LIFE-PROBLEMS CONSCIOUS AND COM- 
PREHENDING THEM BY THE AID OF ANALYSIS 

In the initial stage of psychoanalysis, the attention to the 
past seemed the only condition of the solution. The inhibited 
person, so it was thought, suffered from unconscious mem- 
ories; if these were abreacted, then freedom ruled. There 
followed an epoch, in which the present seemed to be the 
deciding factor, since the transference created an outlet for 
the previously dammed-up libido now released by analysis. 
But also at this point, one could not stop. Freud, Stekel, 
Jung and all the other psychoanalysts wished under no cir- 
cumstances to have their patients attached to them but to make 
them useful for the daily life. Stekel says : * ' We must use 
our mighty influence which we gain over our patients to force 
them with gentle authority to work. And it is our greatest 
triumph when the patient takes up his work again and loves it. 
We should not hesitate to tell the patient the whole truth to 
his face : ' You will not work. ' " * In this statement, a very 
important part of the task is without doubt named ; but work 
is not the only end by far. Many neurotics work themselves 
aknost to death, for example, housewives who do not wish to 
give their husbands their best, their whole love. Just the 
over-industrious individuals are very often counter-reaction- 
aries who cannot do the one thing which is necessary. We 
pedagogues know as well as the physician how to esteem work 
highly and to see its beauty, its hygienic necessity. We pity 
the man who is shut off from work. But we also know that 
for a complete life, more than the capacity and opportunity for 
work is necessary. The harmonious participation in the to- 

* Stekel, Nervose Angstzustande, p. 285. 

477 



478 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

tality of the world, the conception of the own life-vocation in 
struggles and sufferings corresponding to the individual law, 
the best possible realization of the religious-moral ideal, the 
gaining of correct perspective by denial and self-control, the 
acquirement of a view of the world and life, satisfying the 
just claims of the spirit, the proper finding of the object of 
love, all this is likewise indispensable for a full, well-rounded 
life. Thus we are compelled to give the future careful con- 
sideration as well as the connection to the past and present. 

1. The Necessity of the Analytic Attitude Towakd 

Life 

It can happen in the analysis that the subliminal remnants 
of the past are well investigated, a favorable transference 
prevails, and still the inhibitions of instinct persist. All an- 
alysts are accustomed then to judge that the neurotic does not 
at all wish to be free. If one inquires after the reason for 
this not-wishing, the views diverge. Freud assumes that the 
patient does not wish to let his libido flow into reality because 
he is fixed in infantilism, Jung believes, on the other hand, 
that the patient may of course be fixed in infantilism but that 
he is often in that condition because he does not want to come 
out into reality with his libido or because he does not like to 
bring about the harmony between inner compulsion and the 
outer world. According to Freud, the individual bound up in 
his complexes is drawn back by the infantilism, again be- 
come real as a result of an actual conflict ; according to Jung, 
the resistances against the free life-activity in reality or the 
adaptation to these resistances, drive him back into the in- 
fantile stage, therewith to the incest, which however, is not 
actually meant but has only sjrmbolical significance. Both 
men, however, are agreed in saying that the neurosis depends 
on an inner conflict (Freud describes it as between the ego 
and the libido),* thus not only a difficulty in the outer world 
but a mental disharmony, which of course is connected with the 

* Freud, U. neurot. Erkrankungstypen. Zbl. II, p. 301, 



ANALYTIC ATTITUDE TOWARD LIFE 479 

attitude toward reality, which causes adherence to the autism 
of the manifestation. 

It has happened to many analysts as to myself that a patient, 
in spite of careful analysis, remains for a time uneured and 
somewhat later, without further artificial help, suddenly gets 
well. This case happened especially often when a removal to 
other surroundings occurred. One customarily assumes then 
that the transference not having been dissolved until then, the 
patient by clinging to the symptom has not been willing to give 
up the pleasure of working together with the educator or in a 
negative transference to give up the pleasure of malicious joy 
in the educator's fruitless work. Such cases certainly do 
occur. 

If we now proceed with Freud from the concepts of the 
repression and the resistance, we are justified, indeed obliged, 
to seek another interpretation, especially when we remember 
what we heard concerning regression and compensation. How 
would it be if we were to assume that the repression and fixa- 
tion may have been so removed in those cases where the cure 
does not directly follow the analytic work, that the forces en- 
gaged in the conflict found an adjustment? Thus, we may 
think that the son dominated by the father-complex, who was 
tortured by writer's cramp, who got well after leaving the 
parents' house, may have perceived that he need not fear 
the father, that he was in a position to conduct his own life, 
that he could do something worth while according to plans of 
his own. And therefore he left the infantile fixation. Or he 
kept himself, as I saw many times earlier, bound religiously 
by the fifth commandment or such words as : " The eye that 
mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the 
ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles 
shall eat it." (Proverbs xxx, 17.) Now he perceives that 
this saying does not come from God but from the obsessional 
neurotic spirit of the post-exile hierarchy ; he learns to under- 
stand more deeply the words of Jesus: "For this cause shall 
a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife." 
(Mark x, 7) or Mark iii, 32f. : ''For whosoever shall do the 



480 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and my 
mother," He recognizes in this test of obedience a higher 
piety and purer religious experience. Would it not be per- 
missible according to our theoretical principles, to assume that 
this deeper conception of the problem of life, this clear con- 
scious attitude toward life may have taken from him that fear 
which drove him to regression into the infantile attitude ? 

The question of the attitude toward life must be discussed 
again and again in every thorough analysis. For every dream 
expresses a relation to reality or certain of its constituent 
parts and a positive or negative striving. Also, where the 
attraction of the infantile and unreal is strong, the wish to 
do this or that with reality cannot be mistaken. Both the 
wall from which one rebounds into the regression and the 
force which drives against that wall must be heeded in the 
analysis. But the strongest barrier and the mightiest instinc- 
tive impulse is not contained in every manifestation and its 
nearest associations. They must often be deduced from 
these. 

Also where the cause of the repression is not directly ex- 
pressed in the manifestation and associations, it must be 
recovered in the analysis or at least in the working over of the 
analytic material. Even from purely theoretical grounds, this 
work belongs to the full understanding of the declarations of 
the unconscious. In interpretation, the causal derivation must 
appear. 

A practical interest is added: I found that in the most 
careful analysis of the past and the transference with my 
pupil, I came to a standstill. Then I came upon the thought 
close at hand to a pedagogue, the barrier is in a hated duty 
which my patient would evade.* I therefore directed his 

* Even in my first larger psychoanalytic works, I emphasized the 
offering of ethical-religious regulation of instinct. (Ev. Freiheit, 1909, 
Sep., p. 31, 1910, p. 24.) I saw ever more plainly that religious and 
moral needs were released in people. The demands of the genuine 
Christian religion and morals embraced in the principle of -Jesus (love 
for God, fello\ATnen and self) are exactly what was revealed to me 
by psychoanalysis as hygienic according to nature. But one should 



LIFE-PROBLEMS 481 

attention to this point and with the help of analysis found 
this stumbling-block, this wall, which caused the relapse. And 
now it was the pupil's affair to take a clear position to the 
life-problem. The refusal against the command of a mighty 
mental impulse then often showed itself as an illusion, a 
mistake as a result of infantile complex-blending. The cure 
could then be attained by energetic execution of this striving 
or by honest renunciation of a dispensable good, by purification 
of the ideal or forcible cutting through of difficulties. 

When Freud asserts that the analysis should only be resorted 
to when a shorter method does not accomplish the end, he can- 
not and would not have objected altogether to an analytically 
prepared elimination of the causes of repression. But one 
must not overlook the difficulties in doing this. "We shall speak 
of this in the next section. 

If the courage for life has broken down, then the knowl- 
edge of the causes of the life-inhibitions can only depress. 
E. T, A. Hoffmann describes very beautifully the powerless 
dwelling on analytic knowledge : * ' ... It seemed to me 
as if that which we call in general dreams and fancy might 
probably be the symbolical knowledge of the secret thread 
which runs through our life, tying it fast in all its condi- 
tions, as he may be considered as lost, who thinks with that 
knowledge to have won the power to pluck out violently that 
thread and try conclusions with the dark force which rules 
over us."* The poet here describes an inhibited individual 
whom the autoanalysis has brought to a penetrating self-knowl- 
edge. But on the one hand, the analysis has not probed deep 
enough, for it leaves a dark controlling force over him, instead 
of illuminating the forces lying within him, on the other hand, 
the forces leading to the outer world, especially the transfer- 
ence, are left out of consideration. If the resistances against 
the sounding of the individual's inmost nature, against the 
analyst and against the attitude toward reality are overcome 

not forget: hygiene gives general rules, it does not tell each what is the 
best for him in this or that case. So also with religion and morals. 
* E. T. A. Hoffman, Die Elixiere des Teufels, Preface. 



482 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

in sufficient thoroughness, then there comes about the estab- 
lishment of a useful life-program, even though many dark 
depths of the unconscious remain unanalyzed. 

2. The Treatment op the Inner Harmonization 

Even though Freud and Jung differ in theoretical con- 
ception, they are agreed that the pupil must be informed con- 
cerning the occasion of his regression to the infantile, in order 
that he may renounce the autistic solution of the conflict. He 
must be made to see how unworthy is the flight into regression. 
The ethical difficulties must be overcome by moral forces at 
the level of reality and the immoral autism replaced by a real 
achievement. Therein the infantile love-wishes must be sac- 
rificed as in every cure of a neurosis, a moral fact, a renuncia- 
tion of ease, of cheap pleasure, of unproductive phantasy is 
needed for the purpose of a higher application of the life- 
force. 

Thus, psychoanalysis reveals to us the necessity and beauty 
of that idea which finds such exalted expression in the Chris- 
tian symbol of the cross, in the Christian doctrine of sac- 
rifice. The new life which seems by the law of the inner nature 
as most valuable goal, is often attainable only by tremendous 
moral effort, wherein the personality of the analyst can afford 
a mighty aid. But the struggle will at least be conducted 
against the real enemy, it will not, as in asceticism and moral- 
suggestion pedagogy, be conducted against an imaginary 
enemy, against a mirage. The moral demand, which the an- 
alysis discloses, is often incomparably harder to fulfill than the 
commands of many teachers of morals. 

But just in this position toward the moral law, the educator 
must apply himself with especial care. Freud reminds us 
that many a neurosis arises from a struggle waged for a moral 
ideal beyond the strength present. "The change which the 
patients strive for, but accomplish only imperfectly, or not at 
all, has uniformly the value of a progress in the sense of the 
real life. It is otherwise when one measures with an ethical 
standard; one sees people become ill as often when they lay 



LIFE-PROBLEMS 483 

aside an ideal as when they wish to attain one. ' ' * Every 
analyst will admit that an illness very often first begins when 
a previously practised vice is given up (see above 66, 76, 98, 
etc.). The disease represents then a compensation which has 
miscarried. Certainly, however, the regression into unsuitable 
realization of infantile wishes denotes a source of new mental 
complications and pathological phenomena, as Freud shows 
in his article on *'wilde Psychoanalyse" (wild psychoanaly- 
sis). 

What is to be done f In the cases mentioned by Freud, the 
regression was utilizable as the easiest safety valve. A mastur- 
bator who becomes ill, perhaps destroyed his strength, in that 
he was tormented by awful fear of the physical and moral dan- 
ger of his autoeroticism or wished to escape by violence an 
obsessing phantasy ; if one had held before him more valuable 
compensations in their beauty and attainability, such as friend- 
ship, nature study, scientific enrichment, religion, or if one had 
first liberated the obsessional idea and thrown back the bolts 
of the doors to those sublimations, then perhaps this illness 
would not have resulted. Also in the other cases cited by 
Freud, a favorable sublimation might have resulted if analysis 
and transference had rightly lent a helping hand and trans- 
ported the decisive attack to the ground of the real psycholog- 
ical motives and possibilities. 

I mean thus that analysis has on one side to ascertain the 
existing fixation and on the other, the wishes and possibilities 
present. It should in the first place show us why an inhibi- 
tion to development has been present since childhood or a 
relapse to the earlier stage resulted, thus reveal the recent 
and old causes of the manifestation. Therein will become 
visible what kind of forces of attraction entice from the past 
and what are the forces of repulsion against work, that is, 
what present shock drives the life-force into the dependence 
on the unconscious, what task the person in question seeks to 
escape by this plunge into the regression. But the regression 
already serves, as we know, the purpose of forging new plans 

* Freud, ij. neur. Erkrankimgstypen. Zbl. II, p. 299, 



484 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

for the future by the aid of the past. This purpose, directed 
toward the future, is suggested in the manifestation. Even 
before consciousness can say what meaning it has in mind, 
indeed often in contrast to its assertion, the mind sketches 
its plans beneath the threshold of consciousness, which plans 
show their symbolical signals in the manifestation. • 

Not every dream contains a whole life-program in outline, 
as little as one always consciously thinks of his highest pur- 
poses in life. But sooner or later, this matter of highest im- 
portance comes to manifestation. Nothing could be farther 
from correct than to consider the tendency discovered by an- 
alysis as an authoritative voice of God, an unchangeable life- 
command. The wish analyzed to-day cannot perhaps bear the 
light of conscious thinking and by the morrow the life-force 
may have found another goal which speaks forth from the 
dream in its secret speech. Perhaps this wish, too, when 
traced back to its roots by analysis, must be sacrificed as not 
genuine, unsuitable to the deeper demands. Only that which 
stands penetrating analysis and the rational adaptation to the 
possibilities present in reality, reveals the true and actual 
life-problem. 

Thus, one guards against leaving the analytic subject to 
provisional compensations. One ever seeks for the uncon- 
scious motives of the emerging life-demands until one is cer- 
tain of having found the expression of the innermost life-will. 
On this journey of exploration, one always has to deal with 
resistances which stand opposed to the healthy guidance of 
instinct. The subject of the analysis, however, must always 
test the material gained by analysis and compare it with the 
possibilities of reality so that a conscious self-determination, 
free from the inhibitions of the past, may form the end result 
of the whole work. 

Among the resistances against the analytic finding of the 
life-program, I name as two of the most frequent: The fear 
of moral decadence and mental Impoverishment as result of 
the analysis. Both fears rest on errors : The first considera- 
tion, Freud parries with the remark, ' ' the mental and somatic 



DANGERS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 485 

force of a (immoral) wish impulse, when its repression has 
once failed, proves incomparably stronger when it is uncon- 
scious than when it is conscious, so that it can be only weak- 
ened by the rendering it conscious. ' ' * That a morally de- 
fective analyst can seduce to immorality is not to be denied ; 
but should one make it a reproach to surgery if an unprinci- 
pled surgeon performs a criminal abortion? A conscientious 
educator, however, will demonstrate the laws of morality un- 
derstood in the highest sense — ^not merely a questionable inter- 
pretation of these laws — as the command of mental hygiene 
and further the moral impulse. As a matter of fact, many 
people, who, in spite of desperate effort, must be subject to 
immoral instincts, have been gained by psychoanalysis for a 
pure life, valuable in the sense of culture, of personality and 
of society.! 

The second objection also goes lame. Certainly, many great 
artistic and scientific triumphs spring from the repression. 
But where a person, as a result of his need, becomes incapable 
of existence, what good does his genius do him? I have car- 
ried out some analyses of artists, constantly with the result that 
the power of creation increased. Occasionally, for a period, 
the feeling of desolation appeared, for a new attitude toward 
life must be won. Then, however, the artistic production pros- 
pered so much the better. Further, the manifestations, com- 
prehensible only individually, therefore worthless for society, 
were replaced by socially suitable, esthetically valuable for- 

* Freud, U. Psa., p. 59. 

t One cannot deny that all persons show a certain ambivalence be- 
tween the individual imperatives of their natures and the moral de- 
mands. Often those unmoral impulses are conditioned by complexes 
and removable by analysis. If this is not the case — as in the moral 
imbecile — then the conscience of the analyst decides whether he will 
leave the consciously-executed unmoral act as the lesser evil as com- 
pared with the neurosis and neurotic debauchery. The psychoanalysis 
gets on well as mere theory and technique with very diverse ethical 
conceptions. It must get along vnth frivolous laxity as with strictest 
austerity as a deeper and freer morality. The means of art are at the 
disposal of the great master as well as of the morally depraved artist. 
Obviously we deplore every misuse of psychoanalysis for immoral ends; 
the analysis in itself is innocent. 



486 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

mations.* I have never yet seen that an able person experi- 
enced a mental deterioration from analysis but very often 
the opposite. That which the analytic pedagogy eliminates is 
only the sham and illusion. Truth however is a mother. 

If the patient has recognized his holiest imperatives and 
possibilities determined by his nature, thus, his life-duty, then 
he must decide what he will undertake. He renounces or 
executes his wish inwardly. He makes concessions to reality 
in outright renunciation or conquers self in honorable en- 
deavor. What he does, happens from full conviction with 
undivided soul. His fixation can be dissolved by his subordi- 
nating the egoistic will to the good of the community, but 
further by giving to self-assertion the victory over the tendency 
to self-denial. Under some circumstances, only the decisive 
act tears away the barricade which cuts off the forward march 
of the instinct. 

I learned of the cure of a physician, who, in the analysis, 
stuck on an obstacle for a fourth of a year until he decided to 
take a painful step but one necessary to his professional 
activity. Another subject of analysis was freed in great part 
from his severe inhibitions, which expressed themselves par- 
ticularly in obsessional phenomena, as soon as he put away 
the fear of his strict Catholic parents, which he had harbored 
for years, and went over to Protestantism. 

Freud justly calls attention to the fact that the analyst 
should not undertake to guide the pupil hither and thither 
according to wish. "Not all neurotics," he says, ** bring much 
talent for sublimation ; of many among them, one can assume 
that in general they would not have become ill if they had 
possessed the art of sublimating their instinct. If one forces 
them to sublimation excessively and cuts off from them the 
nearest and pleasantest gratifications of instinct, one usually 
makes life still more difficult for them than they would have 
found it otherwise. As physician, one must be content to 
have won back, not perfection, but some capacity for per- 

* Compare my article: D. Entst. d. kiinstl. Inspiration. Imago II 
(1913), further the important statements of Rani? (Inzest-Motiv). 



CAPACITY FOR SUBLIMATION 4^7 

formance and enjoyment. It is to be considered besides that 
many persons are rendered ill right in the attempt to sub- 
limate their instincts beyond the limit set by their organiza- 
tion and that in those capable of sublimation, this process is 
ordinarily executed spontaneously as soon as their inhibitions 
have been overcome by the analysis. ' ' * "We pedagogues, with 
our youthful material, are in a far more favorable position. 
We believe that our boys and girls are still plastic enough to 
be influenced by ideal models. "We carefully guard against 
compelling, directing and moralizing. We seek, however, to 
render possible the self -education to unimpeachable moral con- 
duct in life. That we show by word, and I hope by example, 
the moral demands to be mild and inoffensive in their winning, 
beneficient beauty, probably does the child good. But the 
educator should use no violence, lest he create new repressions. 
In most analyses, the exploration of the past, the attraction, 
takes the broadest scope, less often the regulation of the present 
(the transference) or the laying out of plans for the future. 
All three tasks are intimately connected. The comprehension 
of the life-problem corresponding to the immanent law of the 
personality and performance in reality of the duty embraced in 
it, that is the highest and last compensation which the analysis, 
with the help of the transference, must bring to pass. Konrad 
Ferdinand Meyer gives in these words a classical description 
of this rebirth from his own experience : 

"I was bound by a grievous dream, 
I did not live. I lay stark in the dream, 
With, many thousand unused hours 
The present now raged round me. 
To awaken green seed from the dark ground, 
It needed only the sun's rays and the dew, 
I feel how a thousand germs are sprouting. 
Day, shine in! and life flow out!" f 

The view expressed here signifies a new and difficult appli- 
cation of the analysis in the narrower sense. Originally, an- 

* Freud, Ratschlage f. d. Arzt bei d. psa. Behandlung. Zbl. II, 488. 
t K. F. Meyer, Ged., p. 139. 



488 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

alysis applied only to investigating the past, then the trans- 
ference-analysis was added. Now, the unconscious relations to 
the future should be analyzed. Thus, the task of present-day 
analysis has been increased threefold in relation to the original. 
In reality, in the latter work, lies an abbreviation of the 
method, because the shock on the life barriers erected by the 
complex constantly influences the regression anew. In gen- 
eral, neglecting the analysis of the past and the transference 
and preferring the analysis of the actual conflict is to be 
guarded against. 

The threefold direction of the analysis follows, of neces- 
sity, from the psychoanalytic principle of Freud of permitting 
the patients to speak freely and to investigate their utterances. 
For every analytic subject reports also of his life problems. 
Only when one has suggested to him that the cause of his dis- 
turbance lies only in the past, will he speak only of that. But 
just here, lies a particular trick of the resistance and an ex- 
tremely clever device of the neurotic in opposing the restora- 
tion to health. Many patients are actually eager to dig up 
their past because thereby they best escape the life-duty. 
Here belong, for example, most lazy, traumatic neurotics who 
extract great profit from their illnesses. Many of them are 
glad to allow their past and the transference to be analyzed 
without the symptoms being disturbed. If one brings up the 
subject of the life-problem then first begins the decision. Now 
is the time to give the lazy person the proof by analji;ic sur- 
prising and outwitting that the suffering is wished-for. One 
should not allow one 's self to be deceived in this. 

The objection that the neurotic, whose past and transference 
has been illuminated, orients himself toward the future, cer- 
tainly holds true in many cases which we have designated 
as retention types. But in many cases, this is not so. These 
individuals discover hundreds of tricks, hundreds of new sym- 
bolical justifications for retaining the old symptom because 
the normal outlet of the life-force, which the inner law of 
life and the external situation demand, is barred. If one does 
not come upon this dam of the libido, then the regression and 



AIM OF ANALYSIS 489 

transference must necessarily prove too strong. Every peda- 
gogue is glad when he can avoid both emergency exits, the 
one wholly, the other partially. Mere analysis of the past, in 
general acts badly on the duration of the analysis and runs 
directly contrary to the fundamental principles of Freudian 
analysis which, as we know, considers the manifestation as 
wishfulfillment, thus imparting to it a forward-looking char- 
acteristic. 

The quicker it succeeds in guiding the life-force to the 
mastery of an actual task, just so much the more are regression 
and unmanly transference relieved. Nevertheless, one must 
guard against wishing to accomplish this improvement by sug- 
gestive compulsion, otherwise the resistance is only increased, 
the true healing rendered impossible. 

The aim of all analysts is the same: Moral health. 
Goethe's saying is applicable to every subject of analysis: 
"Where I must cease to be moral, I am of no more value." 
(WW., herausg. v. Erich Schmidt, VI, 487.) The difference 
exists only in the fact that some believe every one capable 
of solving the life-problem for himself after the twofold an- 
alysis, others, however, consider threefold exploration toward 
all sides as desirable in most cases. Since all are agreed that 
not all determinants for cure are necessarily to be found, since 
further, all trace the neurosis back to a recent impression, a 
present conflict, a present repression, so should one, it seems 
to me, at least admit that the analytic explanation of the life- 
problem prescribed by the personal nature and relations may 
often perform valuable service. I admit that I have turned 
my attention thoughtfully to this problem since I have seen 
how great advantage this method often offers. 

"The free will, I teach, and only to do, should you learn, 
for willing is doing. ' ' This saying of Nietzsche is also useful 
to the analyst for doing is the defensive weapon against ex- 
hausting phantasticism. But the will itself must first be 
freed. And for this purpose, in severe eases, the analysis is 
necessary. 



SECTION 3 

THE COURSE OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC 
TREATMENT 

CHAPTER XIX 

THE BEGINNING OF THE ANALYTIC EDUCATIONAL 
WORK WITH ESPECIAL REGARD TO THE OVER- 
COMING OF THE RESISTANCE 

In this chapter, I do not speak of the symptom-analysis 
which has the manifestation apperceived in brief, and collects 
associations in order to pass on at once to the interpretation 
and cure. We come very often by this summary method di- 
rectly to the goal and gain results which astonish the onlooker 
almost as miracles. Even cases which appeared extraordi- 
narily grave, were many times brought to order in a very few 
consultations or indeed sometimes in a single one, so that a life, 
long unhappy, assumed a turn ethically most satisfactory. 
Unwished-for suggestion by transference, advice for the elim- 
ination of inner conflict and adaptation to the life-problem 
aided in this. 

But this unreliable abbreviation is not to be considered at 
this time. I want to warn against the opinion that such rapid 
treatments are the ideal. One often attains lasting cures of 
the symptom with them but many times also only temporary 
results. And the most important thing is: the high educa- 
tional task is only partially performed. One can often in a 
short time open the eyes for the self -appreciation of the moral 
task. But all too impatient advance may bring about too 
violent a shock. It is criminal arrogance to proceed from 
a "veni, vidi, vici." The physician, from conscientiousness, 

490 



PREPARATION FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS 491 

stands in danger of wanting to advance too rapidly : he wishes 
to spare his patient the considerable expense of a longer treat- 
ment. The pedagogue can easily be tempted to allow the false 
brilliance of moral counsel to play too early. Not that one 
should anxiously go out of one's way to avoid a rapid cure. 
The patient, as well as the analyst, is glad of surprises. But 
one makes it a duty to replace "cito et jucunde" (quick and 
pleasant) by good and thorough. 

1. The Previous Preparation for Psychoanalysis 

Even at the beginning of the treatment, one follows the 
rule that the patient should be allowed to talk as freely as 
possible. It has already been pointed out that the manner and 
method by which the patient starts in, is important for the 
diagnosis of his condition. The first statement often reveals, 
in characteristic form, where the trouble is located.* 

A profound hysterical patient said to me right after greet- 
ing me : " Give me your word of honor that you will tell my 
father nothing that I confide to you. ' ' Actually, the negative 
father-complex played the decisive role. 

Usually, the visitor will say why he has come and tell some 
of his symptoms. It is worthy of note that many are unable 
to describe these symptoms in correct, precise manner. 
Further, many reveal important symptoms only weeks later, 
to the surprise of the analyst. Most dangerous for the edu- 
cator are these hidden and intentionally concealed signs of 
disease, especially the suicidal tendency. 

When the case is not a matter of minor affairs, as a nervous 
tic or moral or religious affairs which do not concern the phy- 
sician, the pedagogue will first have his visitor examined by a 
physician and allow him to share the responsibility for the 
analysis. At this point, one is often in a risky position when 
one can consult no neurologist skilled in analysis. Our med- 
ical practitioners, schooled in a highly one-sided physiology, 
are inclined greatly to overestimate the organic disturbance. 

* Freud ( in confirmation of Adler ) , Bemerkungen ii. e. Fall von 
ZwangsneTirose, Jahrb. I, p. 360. 



4,92 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

I, as a layman, would not venture to give this judgment if 
the great body of psychotherapeutic physicians did not raise 
a imanimous complaint over this unfortunate state of affairs. 
It is truly pitiful how they attack the host of hysterical troubles 
with pills and potions, take the stomach-pump and knife as 
aids and treat people as if they were merely bundles of mus- 
cle fibres, nerves, tendons and bones. He who, like every or- 
derly and experienced psychoanalyst, esteems medical science 
and looks in admiration on its many achievements, is deeply 
grieved to see how, under this materialistic practice, not only 
is the body maltreated and often injured but also the seat of 
the trouble, the mental complication, receives impulses to con- 
tinue its destruction of moral and intellectual power. With 
downright sorrow it must be declared that a multitude of 
patients suffer for years, to speak with the Gospel, much from 
many physicians, indeed are tortured in unjustifiable manner. 
If ''Christian Science" with its immeasurable exaggerations 
did so much damage to the reputation of physicians in many 
places, so, not a few of those physicians are guilty who left 
the patients in the lurch with their physiological prescrip- 
tions, so that the so-called Christian Science offered the suf- 
fering ones infinitely more, since it freed them from their 
needs and healed them. It should be expressly emphasized 
that also among the non-analytic physicians, there are many 
excellent psychologists and educators, that many of them 
know that the secret of their success lies not in potions and 
powders but in the force of their personalities. But that 
on the other hand, an infinite amount of harm is done because 
of a lack of psychological understanding and pedagogical 
skill, must unfortunately be admitted by all medical author- 
ities who have gained psychotherapeutic experience. 

What should one say when an hysterical girl who is tor- 
mented by an experience, has her stomach washed out three 
times a day with two liters of water for six weeks? (142). 
Who will be surprised that the trouble became not a hair bet- 
ter? Or when a woman suffers from symbolical representa- 
tion of birth-wishes in the form of violent cramps (418), 



PEDAGOGUE AND PHYSICIAN 493 

should one be surprised when, after the painful pelvic opera- 
tion, not only do the pains persist but also a phobia (fear of 
burglars) has been added? Or can the pedagogue approve 
when a conservative neurologist forbids a girl, who suffers 
from severe anxiety-hysteria and can tell no one of her erotic 
secrets, to speak and to laugh? Supported by analytic au- 
thorities, I allowed myself from the beginning to speak very 
much with the patient and occasionally also to laugh, and 
attained at once a pronounced improvement. Or must one 
stand in astonished admiration when another physician advised 
the girl in all seriousness, for shaking of the head, to have 
the throat muscles attacked surgically, the head would then 
be askew but the shaking would be over. The same hero of 
the knife would, according to this method, have to cut the 
muscles of the eyelids, the knees and feet for the tic wandered 
from place to place while the analysis which had begun but 
been prematurely interrupted by external mishap, not only 
eliminated the anxiety and insomnia but also the majority of 
the tics. 

As further difficulty, there is added the fact that many dis- 
eases cannot be diagnosticated even by the best physicians a 
priori as to their psycho- or physio-genesis. Many times, only 
the analysis gives certain conclusions. 

Nevertheless, the pedagogue is advised constantly to work 
with the physician but he will obviously prefer the physician 
skilled in analysis. For the hostile physician, he will create 
by his analytic achievements comprehension for the new ped- 
agogic method. For the rest, he will subordinate himself in 
all cases where it is a question of the sick, even when he is of 
another opinion. Hence, he will take only cases in which 
he does not have to fear the intervention of the physician 
hostile to analysis. Some people may think that I humble the 
pedagogue to the physician. But even in regard to medical 
law and its blessings as in the face of the injurious efforts of 
quacks with and without religious etiquette, I consider such 
discretion the correct thing. In this opinion, I am guided 
by the experience that the analytic pedagogy, by virtue of its 



494. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

magnitude and effectiveness, will certainly win its field of 
application without any great difficulties. 

Whether one is authorized to do the analysis or if it is a 
question of healthy individuals, one states to the subject the 
conditions attached to the carrying out of the analysis. I give 
as the most important conditions: 

1. The subject is obligated to tell as completely as possible 
all associations which come to his mind, whether these may be 
unimportant, irrelevant, unpleasant for the pupil or educator 
or ugly. 

One always repeats this supreme rule again when offences 
against it come to light, which is the case with all patients, 
even the most agreeable. One shows that the analyst, in 
exact obedience to Jesus' words, "Judge not" (Matthew vii, 
1) will, under no circumstances, censure anything, that the 
person is not responsible for impulses suddenly appearing 
or repressed, coming to light in the analysis, that all people, 
even the holiest and purest, have their base desires without 
deserving contempt on that account, that the analyst takes 
nothing as evil even though he be insulted by the patient and 
treated with sadistic wishes. 

2. The subject promises to take no important step during 
the analysis without informing the analyst of his intention. 
Thereby one protects his pupils from overhasty acts which are 
dictated as inferior compensations of the complex. This sec- 
ond rule naturally comes into application only in strongly 
neurotic persons. 

3. If the analyst takes notes during the consultation, not 
after the session as Freud recommends, the subject should be 
assured that he is guarded against all indiscretions. If too 
much resistance is developed, I give the subject the manuscript 
written in an obsolete stenographic system or give up the tak- 
ing of notes. The diversion of the attention is not great and 
further I never felt the strengthening of the resistance. 
Therefore I can afterwards check up my work more closely and 
have it tested by other analysts. For the beginner and sci- 
entific investigator, I recommend taking notes, for the prac- 



CONDITIONS OF THE PSYCHOANALYSIS 495 

ticed educator, Freud 's method * of making notes in the even- 
ing following the analysis and writing down important dream 
texts after the analysis. 

4. It is very useful to give the pupil a probationary period 
during which it may be determined whether he is a suitable 
case for analysis.! 

5. The patient is to be warned against impatience. One 
should never promise to cure in a certain time. 

6. If a fee is desired for the psychoanalytic treatment, some- 
thing which according to Freud's testimony,! brings with itself 
essential advantage for those in need of treatment, it should 
also be specified that appointments which are not kept will 
be charged for. The pastor customarily declines an honor- 
arium, at least among his own congregation and usually else- 
where likewise. That, in so doing, the work is often rendered 
more difficult, I must admit. 

Not much dependence can be placed on the expectations 
brought by patients. Pupils with greatest confidence often 
refuse very soon, those refractory in the beginning, are often 
quickly brought around. || Stekel finds that individuals who 
are theoretically well prepared, may be especially disagree- 
able, since they gain weapons from the analysis to use against 
disclosing their complexes.^ 

2. The Collection of the Conscious Material 

If one perceives that no results are to be obtained from a 
light analysis of symptoms and that the conditions are right 
for an analysis of the resistance (see below), then one orients 
himself with the patient concerning the history of the illness, 
something which usually demands several hours. One informs 
himself about when the trouble began and what the relations 
were at its first appearance. In particular, one notices the 

* Freud, Ratschliige. Zbl. II, p. 485. 

f Freud, Weitere Ratschlage zur Technik d. Paa. Internat. Zsch. 
f, med. Psa. I (1913), p. 2. 
t Same, p. 4 f . 
II Same, p. 3 f . 
ii Stekel, Die Ausgange der psa. Kuren. Zbl. Ill, p. 175. 



496 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

relation to the parents and certain parent-substitutes, for ex- 
ample, teachers, and any erotic complications or conflicts with 
conscience. 

Even now, one pays attention to the complex-indicators 
which we have studied, especially the physical ones (blushings, 
twitchings, strikingly soft or loud, quick or slow speech, smil- 
ing upon the recounting of severe suffering ("La belle indif- 
ference"), symptomatic movements, etc). Mental stigmata, 
such as striking discrepancies (for example omission of the 
father, of a period of time) or leaps, peculiar joining of 
thoughts, grotesque surmises and the like, are carefully noted. 
No neurotic will report his affairs well-ordered, but ever criss- 
cross in the elaboration of the anamnesis. 

In the beginning, one seldom interrupts the speaker, occa- 
sionally reminding him of an important connection, telling 
him of some analogous case in order to show him that one 
understands his position and to instil confidence. Stekel con- 
siders the following a most important psychoanalytic rule: 
"Use the first hours to gain the patient's confidence and 
esteem. ' ' * 

Proceeding from the clinical history, one likes to make a sur- 
vey of the life history in which special attention is to be paid 
to the dates, since the patient can seldom relate things in cor- 
rect chronological order. If however, a manifestation is of- 
fered for analysis early, one will gladly stop in passing to 
weigh it, as in general, the advice given here is not to be fol- 
lowed with pedantic strictness. Every psychoanalyst has his 
own manner. Still I think I have given not unwelcome and in 
general helpful advice. 

3. The Overcoming of the Resistance 

The effort which we set in motion proceeds to the overcoming 
of various forms of resistance. The fear of rendering con- 
scious the unconscious material, the antipathy for the analyst 
and the horror for the problem of life must be overcome. 
From this threefold resistance, there follow three tasks : aboli- 

* Stekel, Nerv. Angstzustande, p. 289, 



OVERCOMING OF THE RESISTANCE 497 

tion of the amnesia, elimination of the negative attitude, puri- 
fication of the positive transference and comprehension of the 
plan of life.* Among the three resistances in the analysis, 
especial care is to be devoted to the second. Hov/ does this 
resistance express itself against the analyst? 

We have already (472) said something about this. One 
insignificant but diagnostically important symptom, is com- 
ing-too-late, which, according to general experience, almost 
always betrays resistance. Perhaps the pupil keeps his asso- 
ciations to himself and veils himself in deep silence, many 
times under pathological compulsion, or he rebels with im- 
measurable stubbornness against the most obvious arguments 
of the analyst, or he gets mad over a senseless hobby which 
does not agree with the rest of his intelligence, or he lies will- 
fully, or he revokes for insignificant reasons that which he 
accepted on a basis of sufficient proof, or he produces a vast 
quantity of manifestations in order to prevent a thorough 
working out of any particular one, or he loses himself in ordi- 
nary conversation, or he gives up the treatment. He likes 
to try to torment the analyst, in whom, he sees the father as 
Riklin mentions. t 

If the attempt to conquer the resistance is unsuccessful, the 
whole analytic effort fails. I am not at all surprised, there- 
fore, that some opponents of psychoanalysis to whom a few 
well-intentioned but falsely begun attempts failed, did not 
attain their goal and poured the phials of their wrath upon 
Freud and his investigation. It came within a hair of hap- 
pening to one of our most brilliant psychoanalysts: his first 
patient, whom he wished to treat according to the new method, 
after the beginning psychoanalyst had been introduced by a 
professional and been analyzed, refused to speak and for many 
hours was absolutely speechless. In his embarrassment, the 
physician turned to Freud with an account of the facts in the 

* Other formulae are : elimination of infantilism or of anachronism, 
overcoming of the involution of the libido (turning-in of the instinct) 
or of the isolation caused by repression and attachment, bringing out 
into reality, etc. 

•j- Riklin, Aus der Analyse einer Zwangsneurose. Jahrb. II, p. 247. 



498 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

case; the latter, because of his immense experience, could see 
through the motive of the resistance and sent his conclusions 
by letter. And behold, as soon as the physician told his vis- 
itor the motive for his resistance, the invisible lock fell from 
his mouth, whereas all previous efforts had been fruitless. He 
who has seen something like this occur, has only a mild regret 
for the scorn of the opponents of Freud's theory of the re- 
sistance. 

The fact is, that years of experience led to this conclusion, 
to neglect in severe cases the symptom and direct all atten- 
tion to the resistance.* If this resistance is broken, the cure 
easily results. The psychoanalytic treatment has therefore in 
greatest part become analysis of the resistance. 

In order to solve the resistance, one must know how it origin- 
ated. In great part, it arises from the transference, and in- 
deed from the positive as well as the negative. Often, an iden- 
tification with father or mother has occurred. The defiance 
which applies to the father, the fear of him, the disbelief in 
him, is now set free.f A special cause may perhaps contribute 
to the transference which cause, it may be possible to discover, 
or the whole situation may even be disclosed. It is possible for 
the mouth to serve as sexual symbol so that the closing of the 
mouth expresses sexual fear. In a case of which I knew, 
silence betrayed the wish for assurance against perverse ac- 
tivity. It may also happen that an hysterical patient uncon- 
sciously sulks : ' ' The mouth serves not only for speaking but 
also for kissing; if you refuse the latter, so will I refuse the 
former. ' ' $ The unconsciousness of most motives for resist- 
ance is to be borne in mind. 

In no case should the educator betray that the resistance 
vexes him. Most analytic subjects rejoice consciously or un- 
consciously when they can vex the father, hence when they can 
vex the analyst, and reckon, as Freud wittily remarks, again 
and again according to the saying of the little boy: '*It 

* Freud, Die zukiinft. Cliancen der psa. Ther. Zbl. I, p. 3. 

•)• Same, p. 4. 

% Prof. Freud kindly called my attention to this motive. 



OVERCOMING OF THE RESISTANCE 499 

would serve father just right if I got sick and died," One 
calmly goes through the various possibilities until the barrier 
is removed. If the will to health in the patient, the scientific 
interest in the healthy subject of analysis, is weak, one should 
defer the treatment until a more favorable time. There are 
lazy neurotics for whom one would like, in their interest, to 
allow a worse condition in their sufl^ering, since only then will 
they really become well and become ready for sacrifice. It 
is much better for one to refuse those not ready for analysis 
than that one should bother one's self with them for a long 
time in vain. The overcoming of the resistance is impossible 
in catatonics of an advanced stage, while milder introversion 
often has a favorable outcome, as we have shown in many 
examples. 

Seldom is the resistance so great that no words are obtain- 
able. One merely pays careful attention to the transference 
symptoms and says to himself that the resistance against the 
analyst and also against the outer world can signify only the 
inner resistance against the real comprehension of these or 
another inner difficulty. If the transference symptom is not 
analyzed at once, the analysis is hopelessly stranded. 

If no association in general will be given, this failure de- 
pends, according to Freud, on the fact that the patient is 
occupying himself with the person of the physician or some- 
thing belonging to him and he should simply be informed of 
this state of affairs.* 

That which we have said concerning the initial resistance, 
naturally applies also to the barriers developed during the 
course of the later analysis. 

As a precaution, one should be very conservative at the be- 
ginning of the treatment about giving disagreeable interpreta- 
tions or other communications. One first creates confidence 
(positive transference), then one allows the patient to gradu- 
ally find the state of affairs for himself, otherwise, a new 
flight into the neurosis is easily occasioned. f 

* Freud, Zur Dynamik d. Ubertragnng. Zbl. II, p. 168. 
t Freud, U. "wilde" Psa. Zbl. I, p. 94. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE MATERIAL OF THE TREATMENT AND ITS 
ANALYTIC HANDLING 

1. Choice of Subject 

(a) BY THE PATIENT 

Psychoanalysis wishes to educate to freedom. It affords, 
even during its prosecution, far more freedom than any other 
psychotherapeutic method, but in so doing, it really makes 
freedom impose severe autonomous demands. On a basis of 
extended observation, psychoanalysis has advanced to the 
insight that the pupil has to choose so far as possible the con- 
versational material which is utilized in analyzing the mani- 
festation. One shows him how unconscious material can be 
reconstructed out of all possible kinds of information. If he 
is no dreamer, one tells him how important dreams are, but one 
is very careful not to make these imperative. "In general, one 
guards against disclosing a particular interest for the inter- 
pretation of the dreams or awakening in the patient the belief 
that the work must stand still if he brings no dreams. Other- 
wise, one runs the danger of joining the resistance to the dream 
production and occasioning a cessation of the dreams. ' ' * 

If the pupil wishes to tell of a symptomatic act, perhaps a 
mistake in speaking, one receives it with interest. If he wants 
to report from his youth, one listens gladly. But if he leaves 
the role of narrator and wishes to hear the view of the analyst, 
one will be cautious and test exactly how far one maj^ enter 
into this discussion. One asks one's self whether one is jus- 
tified in taking from the pupil the responsibility for a decision 
by advice, whether one already understands his peculiarity 

•Freud, D. Handhabung d. Traumdeutung i. d. Psa. Zbl. II, p. 110, 

500 



CHOICE OF MATERIAL IN THE ANALYSIS 501 

sufficiently, whether one may not be enticed away from the 
analysis by questioning, etc. But so far as possible, one allows 
the pupil to choose the subjects of conversation. 

(b) THE analyst's CHOICE OF MATERIAL 

"Where the pedagogue finds valuable material which prom- 
ises an interpretation, he lets the free conversation stop imme- 
diately and collects associations to the apperceived object in 
order to gain an explanation. Of this, we will speak in a 
moment. 

He exercises an influence on the conversational material 
when it threatens to become superficial chit-chat — ^but not at 
once, for even the flat reactions are valuable indicators of the 
complex. We simply guard against the resistance which would 
degrade us to trifling. 

An arbitrary attack is made upon the constellation on an 
idea forming a manifestation. Otherwise one would proceed 
from hundreds to thousands, remain on the surface and lose 
the interpretation. Thus one asks for associations to such 
and such a part of the manifestation, to such and such an 
associated word, now using individual words, now sentences, 
now a chain of free associations. Now one asks for a crypto- 
lalia or a cryptogram, now one desires a report on the previous 
course of the conversations etc., now one has a phantasy spun 
out, in short, one is never embarrassed for material to be 
analyzed. 

2. The Provisional Interpretation 

Rather, the beginner may be driven into the corner by 
very embarrassment of riches, indeed it is very often impossi- 
ble to thoroughly work through merely the material offered in 
excessive fulness by the patient himself. Should one give up 
penetrating into the depths and bestow upon all manifestations 
an interpretation even though a superficial one? Or should 
one select a little entity, perhaps a dream, and explore it thor- 
oughly, perhaps in several hours of interpretation? 

Freud recommends: **One is always satisfied with the re- 



502 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

suit of interpretation which is to be gained in an hour and 
does not consider it a loss that one has not completely under- 
stood the content of the dream. The next day one does not 
continue the interpretation-work as matter of course but only 
when one notices that in the meantime, nothing else has 
crowded into the foreground with the patient. Thus, one 
makes it a rule always to take that which first comes into the 
patient's mind and no exception in favor of an uninter- 
rupted dream-interpretation. If new dreams have been pre- 
sented, one turns to these more recent productions and makes 
no reproach against one's self for neglecting the older ones. 
If the dreams have become too extensive and far extended one 
renounces a priori a complete solution. ' ' * 

The important thing in the dream interpretation is always 
the insight into the instinctive trend. For theoretical ends, 
the foregoing formulations naturally do not apply. In the 
interest of science, one will gladly tarry over every detail and 
ferret out with pleasure the wonderful interweaving of mo- 
tives. In order to assist the pupil in need of help, we shall 
so constellate him according to the possibilities that conscious- 
ness with its energies of will may touch the point of his uncon- 
scious where the instinct is fixed. "Whether the parts of the 
manifestation are so and so many times overdetermined, 
whether the goal hinted at in the dream occurs once or more 
than once, whether behind the first existing fixation of instinct 
which must be overcome, still deeper ones exist, these things 
are not now the chief concern. We seize first that which is 
accessible. Perhaps it turns out that it is not sufficient and 
that we must dig deeper. Patience ! Surely this deeper-hid- 
den material will crop out. 

We remember that in general no dream can be entirely inter- 
preted (361), indeed that certain dreams cannot be inter- 
preted at all with certainty. In such cases, one waits for 
further manifestations. 

Again I call attention to the advice that one should let 
the subject of analysis find as much as possible of the interpre- 

* Freud, D. Handhabg. d. TraimdeutuBg. Zbl. II, p. 110, 



DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL MATERIAL 503 

tation for himself. One cannot expect everything of him. 
There is only one Freud and it was a long time before he 
could come. But something of the intellectual pleasure of dis- 
covery should be granted every pupil. 

One must warn against the expectation of coming to know 
from one interpretation the whole situation of the pupil viewed 
from all sides. If one manifestation, for example, shows no 
trace of homosexuality, this in no way guarantees that such a 
trace will not appear next time. Only after long observation 
can one expect to know all sides of the mental make-up. The 
individual manifestation reveals only the complex most active 
at the moment. • 

3. The Discussion of Sexual Material 

Formerly, I advised analyzing as if there were no sexuality 
and simply to wait until the subject of analysis recognized 
the enemy of sexual repression himself and acknowledged it of 
his own accord. To-day, I am less timid. Of course one 
should not frighten the pupil by informing him at once con- 
cerning his gross, often perverse, wishes. But one should also 
not go too far out of the way of a lucid interpretation. Other- 
wise one awakens the appearance of prudery and arouses 
resistances on which the analysis may be stranded. At least 
when one notices that the patient perceives the state of affairs, 
it is absolutely a duty to meet him in helpful manner and 
spare him his feeling of shame. The patient perceives much 
quicker than certain opponents that the discussion of sexual 
complexes is just as necessary as that of other kinds. It is 
absolutely absurd to declare the exploration of non-sexual 
dreams and phantasies as necessary and curative but to reject 
the analysis of sexual material. The Catholic confessional 
shows more wisdom in this regard. If one acts timid toward 
sexual subjects, one does only injury, while by frank inter- 
pretation of undoubted sexual material, one removes a burden 
from the sufferer and renders him grateful. He is glad to 
speak out freely concerning these things to a man whom he can 
trust and to be able to obtain instruction. 



504 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

In this, it is to be emphasized that it is never a question 
of introducing new phantasies into the pupil but solely one 
of mastering those ideas already present and active in the 
unconscious by raising them into consciousness. 

The sound tact of the educator who is inwardly free, afflicted 
neither with prudery nor with frivolity, will certainly find the 
proper position in this matter. 

If anyone is afraid of injuring the pupil by sexual enlight- 
enment and confession, let him look at those who, under the 
sway of their complexes, are thrown into regular abysses of 
vice, into perversities of all kinds and are brought by the 
analysis from their pathological conduct to good ways. Some 
examples we have given in this book. 

I have never seen bad results from a sensible sexual analysis. 
Of course I consider correct the fundamental principle that 
the exploration of the sexual past should not penetrate deeper 
than is absolutely necessary. If one guards against the sug- 
gestion that the cause of the neurosis lies solely in the infantile 
sexual experiences and also directs the analysis toward the 
obstacles to proper activity of instinct in the present, then the 
sexual analysis will assume a far smaller extent than at the 
period of the pure cathartic method or that of the psycho- 
analysis which expects all healing from abreaction. 

To avoid sexuality intentionally, however, is unkind and 
testifies to a personal fixation. 

4. Order in the Psychoanalysis 

One would expect that a confused medley would result when 
the pupil tells of his manifestation according to his own pleas- 
ure and the analyst interprets more or less according to the 
time at hand. To external appearances, indeed, such a chaos 
does exist. But as the tangled associations, like the brush 
strokes of the caricaturist suddenly resolve themselves into an 
organic whole, so with the parts of the analysis. Afterwards, 
one sees a definite arrangement and understands how one dis- 
covery makes the next one possible, one interpretation aids 
further repressed material to an entrance into consciousness. 



COUNSEL AND COMMAND 505 

Following one phase, in which feminine phantasies develop 
as determinants of a girl's hysteria, there may perhaps come 
another in which masculine phantasies appear as motives. 
Then, under some circumstances, autoerotic impulses may 
appear in the foreground. There results possibly an attempt 
to bring up once more the first phantasies anew if a satisfying 
disposition of the life-desire has not been attained, etc. 

5. Counsel and Command in the Psychoanalysis 

"We teachers who are compelled to trouble our pupils with 
tasks, hear with pleasure that all that kind of demands ceases 
in the psychoanalysis. It accomplishes nothing to have the 
dreams written down upon awakening in order to snatch them 
from oblivion. We know that forgetting also proceeds ac- 
cording to law. If the memory disappears, this shows that 
the material lurking behind it is not ready for consciousness, 
the associations are absent and nothing is gained for the pupil.* 
The practiced analyst probably sees many a dream, the mean- 
ing of which he knows, but when he gives the inexperienced 
patient the explanation supported by experience, the latter 
will find the explanation violent and arbitrary ; he is not con- 
vinced and one has done more injury. 

Further, meditation over certain periods of life has no value 
since it does not banish the resistance which comes to expres- 
sion in the amnesia but rather strengthens it. 

The analyst will give counsel only so far as he does not 
disturb the self-decision. He aids in seeking the temporary 
dwelling in which the danger of unpleasant difficulties will be 
as small as possible. He assists in investigating new plans 
and examining whether they are conditioned on complexes. 
He calls attention to the unfavorable effects of idleness and 
when desired, not before, creates opportunities for work, in 
which he himself does not give or control the work. The 
analyst should not be a private teacher in school faculties but 
rather, under certain conditions, work hand in hand with an 

* Freud Die Handhabung. Zbl. II, p. 488. Abraham, Int. Ztschr. f. 
med. Psa. I, p. 194 f. 



606 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

understanding pedagogue. He should discover the internal 
and external resistances but not say whether freedom will be 
gained by renunciation or conquest, reduction of the goal or 
increased effort. If the patient chooses a useful work which 
teaches him to taste the pleasure of real endeavor, the analyst 
will approve of it but be moderate with praise without causing 
the appearance of negative transference (suspicion of envy, 
severity, etc.). The responsibility is always to be left to the 
patient. 

He is warned by Freud from the attempt ' ' of turning aside 
in the treatment into the intellectual field. ' ' * There are 
problem-delvers who throw themselves with ardor upon theories 
but carefully guard their own fixation of instinct. Every 
analyst must certainly learn to understand the theory thor- 
oughly and it is good if he has a lively interest in it. But mere 
reflection over one's own person only injures. Freud allows 
the patients analytic literature only unwillingly, their relatives 
none at all, since almost always the resistance is only 
strengthened, t The chief thing is that the pupil should learn 
to understand his own condition in the analysis and be in- 
clined to do away with the injurious part of it. Then he 
himself will give the necessary advice. 

* Freud, Ratschlage. Zbl. II, p. 489. 

t Jung recommends to a religiously uncultivated person who asks 
him for reading during the analysis, as the only book, the New Testa- 
ment. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE DURATION AND CONCLUSION OF THE 
PSYCHOANALYSIS 

1. The Duration 

The reproach is often made against the psychoanalytic 
treatment that it takes an enormous amount of time. We 
educators will be lenient with this fault for we know that an 
orderly education — and such an one is psychoanalysis — is not 
to be attained at a gallop. 

If it were only a question of the elimination of one or an- 
other symptom which had been caused by accidental ex- 
periences, then rapid cures would be worth striving for. Or 
if one has vigorous, able pupils who really know already the 
right way, for whom the barriers need merely be pushed aside, 
then rapid cures can occur, very often with definite results. 
It is an injustice when an opponent of analysis previously 
mentioned, tells to all the uninformed people, after he has 
given a caricature of the method, how he cured a psychoneu- 
rosis in a half hour ( ! ) and continued : * ' One thinks now 
the patient might have fallen into the hands of a psychoanalyst 
and been analyzed for two or three years." This neurologist 
must know perfectly well that we too have a multitude of 
instantaneous cures to show. I have reported in the fore- 
going chapters a number of that kind of processes which now 
and then moreover had a highly gratifying moral and religious 
transformation as a result. But it is distorting the truth to 
designate such results as the customary ones and it would be 
foolish to go after a speed record. A prominent neurologist, 
who enjoyed the highest reputation in practicing the former 
methods, Prof. J. J. Putnam, testifies in his article, ''Per- 

507 



508 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

sonal Experiences with Freud's Psychoanalytic Method": 
"It is often asserted that the results of the psychoanalytic 
treatment bear no relation to the time applied to the same, and 
in this assertion, so much is correct as that the method in its 
broadest extent is applicable neither in hospital practice nor 
with a large number of patients. So transforming a re-educa- 
tion as is here undertaken, indubitably requires time. . . . 
No other treatment achieves so much in so short time. ' ' * 

Thoroughness and constancy, we have to strive for. We 
would not only banish the symptom but eliminate the far more 
important inner need and set free a maximum of moral energy 
and joyous health. That this is not attainable with potions 
and electrodes, rest in bed and dietetics, everyone ought to 
perceive. Psychoanalysis is the most penetrating method 
which can be conceived of. It is not the final goal. It is like 
the labor of plowing. The seed must follow. The field itself 
must decide for what kind of seed it is adapted. Good things 
take time. 

Aschaffenburg asserts that other methods do accomplish as 
much in the same time as psychoanalysis. How does he ex- 
plain the fact then that so great a number of patients, who were 
treated for years according to other methods and given up as 
incurable, found complete health through psychoanalysis, in- 
deed a new life ? When Freud, exceptionally of course, used 
three and four years in analyses, he was dealing with old 
cases which would have been considered a priori incurable hy 
any other physician. He who reads how pessimistically Op- 
penheim and many others consider certain nervous diseases 
and compares with this what Freud has accomplished, <?annot 
refrain from astonishment. 

The duration of the psychoanalysis depends in the first place 
upon the subject. A symptom which appears mild may be 
anchored exceedingly deep, be tremendously much overdeter- 
mined. Often a whole series of stigmata yields quicker than 
a single sign, for example, a nervous tic. INIore important 
than the number of determinants is the degree of resistance, 

♦Putnam, Zbl. I, p. 535. 



NEED OF EDUCATIONAL ANALYSIS 509 

the desire for health, the readiness to bring the necessary 
sacrifice to its attainment. 

Because of the resistance, it is also very important how the 
person of the physician pleases the subject of the analysis. 
A less skillful and clever analyst often arrives at his goal much 
quicker than his superior colleague if the patient in question 
understands the former better, identifies him less with un- 
comfortable persons, allows his transference to be more happily 
disposed of. Therefore, it is often quite useful to change 
analysts although the management of the transference is mean- 
while quite difficult. 

Further, the number of analytic sessions naturally comes 
into consideration. Most medical psychoanalysts devote to 
their patients one hour daily except Sunday. They can there- 
fore treat far fewer patients than other physicians and are 
compelled to charge higher for their consultations than the 
latter. For this reason, they must wish for the elaboration of 
their work, which is indeed only an educational one, by non- 
medical pedagogues and pastors. The need is great, the helpers 
few. 

We educators can usually see the patients only once or twice 
a week. In severe cases, where the pupil is suffering and wants 
to unburden himself of much material, we must exceptionally 
sacrifice still more time. In consolation, it may be said that 
in two successive hours, more can usually be attained than in 
two separated hours. 

Ordinarily, the duration of the treatment cannot be stated. 
The majority of my cases were relieved in from two to three 
months, thus without complete analyses, in which connection 
it should be noted that I have to deal in general with milder 
maladies. Some patients I kept a year or longer in special 
pastoral care. This time seems very long. But it is to be 
remembered that countless nervous patients have to suffer 
dreadfully for decades, indeed even to the end of life, although 
they visit one neurologist after another, one sanitarium after 
another. Further, there ordinarily occurs very soon a decided 
amelioration during the analytic treatment. Also, the costly 



510 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

nursing in a special institution is here dispensed with. 
Finally, the cure is a fundamental one and creates a new, 
beneficent attitude toward life. The deepest, and for the 
prophylactic instruction, most important insight, is gained 
only in the late stages of the analysis. Eecovery is the enemy 
of deep investigation. Hence we shall attempt to bring health 
to the patient as quickly as possible though without forcing. 

It is beyond doubt that the psychoanalytic technique will 
undergo many improvements which will shorten its course.* 

If the subject becomes impatient, one shows him the extent 
and difficulty of the task. If he draws back — ^which by sharp 
control of the negative transference seldom happens — one lets 
him go and does not seek to hold him. Ordinarily, he returns 
again after he has perceived that other methods leave him in the 
lurch. 

2. Conclusion op the Pedanalysis 

Every person is unfathomable. The psychoanalysis always 
remains therefore, as we know, relative. Further, it is not 
necessary to solve artificially all complications on the other 
side of consciousness. If a number of threads are cut through, 
the man can break the rest by his own strength. No one thinks 
of eliminating all complexes. 

An analysis may then be considered concluded when the 
following three conditions are fulfilled : 

1. The analysis of the manifestations can show no more in- 
jurious fixations of instinct. Thus, all pathological symptoms 
must have disappeared for they are all the expression of un- 
suitable fixation. But further the associations given to normal 
tests should contain no crass incestuous wishes, no tendencies 
to introversion, no ardent infantile desires. The anachronisms 
are never to be entirely overcome but they should no longer 
have central importance. 

2. The transference must have subsided to a modest amount. 
Of course the discontinuance of the analysis sets free much 
kindly rapport. Still, the loss becomes unbearable and the 

* Freud, D. zuk. Chancen. Zbl. I, p. 3. 



CONCLUSION OF THE PEDANALYSIS 511 

longing distracting when the inner change too little prepares 
the ground for the external separation. Some analysts desire 
that they become entirely neutral to their patient. I do not 
consider this good. The self-dependence of the analytic sub- 
ject should of course never be prejudiced by the picture of the 
earlier helper in need. But the memory of a well-meaning 
person belongs to the precious values of life which a normal 
individual cannot and should not throw overboard. That the 
analyzed ones show themselves ungrateful, I have very seldom 
found. Children in particular who have been analyzed, al- 
ways showed me great attachment and likewise most adults, 

3. The ethical situation must be clearly recognized and the 
necessary things carried out. This compensation is the highest 
goal of the psychoanalysis. If the inner harmony is estab- 
lished, in execution and renunciation to the moral command 
and the individual law sufficiently obeyed, then the adaptation 
to reality becomes suitable. It is free from the worrying, 
strength-destroying, fevered activity of the complex-tormented 
neurotic as from the indolence and fatigue of his oppositely 
influenced companion in fate. Thus the person sufficiently 
analyzed, experiences with Tasso : 

"I am healthy 
When I can devote myself to my work." * 

But it must be a free active work. 

The previously repressed instincts are thus made serviceable 
to the conscious will, the repression of instinct is replaced by 
control of instinct. 

We have heard already (473) that an analytic patient does 
not wish to free himself sufficiently from his mentor or fulfill 
his life's duties and therefore clings to his symptom. This 
shows as we know that the person in question wishes to shirk 
his life-problem. In such a case, one will inexorably break off 
the treatment and leave the further education to life which 
then brings the cure to pass. In this case, the patient usually 
takes his revenge by not thanking the artificial help but his 

* Goethe, Tasso V, p, 2. 



512 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

"healthy nature" or another physician for the cure,* Never- 
theless, what harm does it do ? A tactful analyst who creates 
for his pupil an enrichment of the ethical content of life be- 
sides health in the medical sense, usually receives much love 
and gratitude. 

* Adler, D. nerv. Charakter, p. 77. Stekel, Die Ausgange der psa. 
Kuren. Zbl. in, p. 296. 



SECTION 4 
THE PREREQUISITES OF THE PSYCHOANALYSIS 

CHAPTER XXII 
THE PREREQUISITES IN THE ANALYST 

From well-informed circles, the fear has already been ex- 
pressed that psychoanalysis, if it left the consultation-room of 
the physician, might be misused for all kinds of mischief. 
In the hands of improper people, as social sport, tried by 
frivolous persons, applied by lustful companions for gratifica- 
tion of impure curiosity, it may cause all kinds of misfortune. 
It may bring moral danger to healthy people and great increase 
of suffering to the sick when incompetent persons, in mis- 
chievous presumption, devote themselves to the interesting 
method. 

I consider these warnings, even though they were spoken by 
opponents of psychoanalysis, as appropriate and useful. No 
one acquainted with the powerful effects which the method 
here presented calls forth, can neglect to warn earnestly 
against its careless application. He who would venture on 
the practical application of the pedagogic art created by Freud 
may do so only in an earnest and exalted responsibility. He 
will enter upon the work with joy if he feels himself equipped 
for it and called upon to do it, he will wander with pleasure 
through the virgin world which is opened to him if he is 
equipped with the necessary tools. But nowhere is an evil 
mind so deplorable as in the practice of a difficult, laborious, 
pastoral training and educational art. 

Obviously psychoanalysis cannot be forbidden by legal en- 
actment since it is only a refinement of methods previously used 

513 



514 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

and is delimited as little as the suggestion technique by indis- 
pensable rules. It is different with hypnosis. 

So much the more will the representatives of a scientific 
and penetrating pedagogy do everything to protect their 
method from misuse. We ask therefore what are the requi- 
sites, without which, the practice of psychoanalysis is not right ? 

1. Theoretical Demands 

He who wishes to practice pedagogically the method of work 
founded by Freud and elaborated in some particulars by his 
adherents, must know the results of the previous, enormously 
extensive studies. It would be imprudent to ignore the work 
which has been done. He who would do so, notwithstanding, 
would soon stand before enigmas, for the solution of which he 
would need the keen vision recognized on all sides even by 
opponents, the never-failing tendency and acuity of a Freud. 
Even the experienced analyst often sees himself opposed by 
difficulties which hard beset him and he is always grateful to 
counsel with colleagues who have already encountered the 
same obstacles and fathomed their secrets. Many another 
therapeutist takes it very easy : he ridicules the analysis, puts 
the patient to bed, gives hydrotherapy or electrical treatment, 
gives his little lecture again — perhaps for the two-hundredth 
time — on the illusory character of the illness, cracks the whip 
again and calls out his command, and goes forth with the 
consciousness of the honest man true to his duty. For the 
analyst, it is not so easy. He must often strain his hunting- 
sense to the utmost. I cannot agree at all with those who find 
psychoanalysis easy when it is once learned. I have seen very 
intelligent people stand months at a time in not a little em- 
barrassment before some peculiar secret of motivation. The 
counsel of an experienced analyst can often break through the 
thicket at a stroke. 

An exact knowledge of the theory and technique of psycho- 
analysis is, therefore, an unconditional requisite. How this 
may be gained, a later chapter will explain. 

Still more important than a scientific mind is a healthy 



PEDAGOGIC CHARACTER 515 

understanding of humanity and a good intention. These alone 
help to the knowledge of humanity which is so important. An 
impractical man will never become a skillful psychoanalyst. 
With women, one often finds particularly sensitive natures 
who are wonderfully adapted to analysis. In the exploration 
of the first years of childhood, they are without doubt, on the 
whole, superior to men. 

2. Pedagogic Chaeacteb 

Psychoanalysis is not a procedure which applies purely and 
exclusively to the intellect. It is psychoanalysis which con- 
vinces us of the primacy of the affectivity. The personality 
of the educator is at least as important as in any other peda- 
gogic practice, according to the testimony of the most accom- 
plished students, is even one of the most important factors, if 
not the most important, in enticing to freedom the fast-fixed 
instinct for which the analysis creates latitude. Much de- 
pends, therefore, on the character of the analyst. In the 
mutual work, he gives much even where he wishes to conceal 
and guard against it, from his own experience. The pupil 
detects with great keenness the analyst's weaknesses and also 
his moral shortcomings. In the unavoidable exaggerations of 
the positive transference, the analytic subject will direct his 
ethical views according to those of his pastoral adviser. "What 
a misfortune may happen when the educator is a morally un- 
sound man ! 

One says, to be sure, that the patient should become free 
entirely by his own strength, by self-education. This goal 
seems well worth striving for. In fact and truth, no analyst 
can stand so far in the background that he can be dispensed 
with. There is only self-salvation in autoism, for example, 
Buddhism. To have before one a healthy, upright man who 
has taken hold of life with the necessary amount of courage 
and love, causes no decrease in self-determination but rather 
renders the personal struggle easier. I think that every 
analyst, whether he will or not, must determine thus or so by 
his personality. The morally-lax pedagogue becomes seducer, 



516 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

no matter how zealously he cloaks himself in the mantle of 
virtue. Hence our obvious demand on the character of the 
analyzing educator. 

3. Freedom from Complexes 

Freud lays great stress on the point that the unconscious 
of the analyst contributes much, indeed the most, in his cog- 
nitive process, to his understanding.* How correct he is, we 
see in the adventures which every analysit occasionally ex- 
periences. It may happen to him that he does not see through 
a connection, does not understand a phenomenon, and when 
he tells his colleague of his calamity, he provokes a pleased 
smile and a solution which recalls Columbus and the egg. In 
this little defeat, he sees no defect of intelligence, as little as 
he depreciates the other when the latter turns to him on similar 
occasions. He institutes a little autoanalysis and usually finds 
where he should really have found the connection from his 
experience and as cause of his mental blindness, a complex 
which agreed with that of the patient. The analyst could not 
see the latent desire of the other because it was also his own. 

Jung told me of a foreign physician who treated a sick 
colleague, but after some weeks came to a standstill and in 
spite of all insistence, could make no further progress. How- 
ever zealously regression and transference were treated, how- 
ever clearly the complexes lay at hand, it did not occur to them 
to insert the normal development. Jung found that in all 
dreams, resistance symbols appeared: the patient ran out of 
the house or shirked school. This allowed the wish to be 
determined that he might now solve a problem autistically 
instead of actually and indeed it concerned the completion 
of a neglected examination. And why had the colleague been 
unable to recognize this fact? Because he himself was in the 
same position as his patient. 

Freud has therefore coined the dictum that the analyst can 
lead his subject only so far as he himself has gone: ''The 
physician (educator) can tolerate in himself no resistances 

* Freud, Ratschlage. Zbl. II, p. 486. 



FREEDOM FROM COMPLEXES 517 

which, withhold from his consciousness that which is known by 
his unconscious, otherwise he will introduce into the analysis 
a new kind of selection and distortion which would be far more 
injurious than that occasioned by exertion of his conscious 
attention. It is not sufficient that he himself be an approxi- 
mately normal person, one should much more impose the de- 
mand that he have undergone a psychoanalytic purification and 
acquired knowledge of his own complexes which would be 
likely to disturb him in the understanding of the material af- 
forded by the patient. The disqualifying effect of such per- 
sonal defects cannot be doubted ; every unsolved repression in 
the physician corresponds, according to a happy expression of 
"W. Stekel, to a 'blind spot' in his analytic perception." * 

To the condition of having-been-analyzed, there should be 
added a happy utilization of his life- and love-forces. Other- 
wise, the educator easily incurs negative transferences which 
disturb objective judgment, render impossible the regulation of 
the transference and introduce uncertainty into the treatment, 
indeed a weak, changeable attitude. An analyst who believes 
himself persecuted, is unhappy in love or morally uncertain 
would be therefore in an extremely difficult position and would 
do much better, if he does not possess extraordinary self- 
control, to interrupt his analytic work until his personal re- 
lations are arranged. 

There are analysts who not only have themselves thoroughly 
analyzed once but also later occasionally have this done a bit 
further by a colleague. How then can opponents take offense 
when they are told that they too are influenced by complexes ? 
For are they not men like the rest of us? Is there a single 
person who has not his strong attachments and keeps them 
so far that he will not be analyzed and freed ? And who would 
be absolutely free from complexes ? 

•Freud, Katschlage. Zbl. II, p. 487. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE PREREQUISITES IN THE SUBJECT OF 
ANALYSIS 

We have pointed out repeatedly that psychoanalysis is not 
applicable to all persons and to all psychoneurotic phenomena. 
Before one begins so laborious a work, one tests carefully 
whether it offers sufficient chances. 

1. Intelligence 

Superficial analyses can also be carried out on poorly en- 
dowed individuals in case no strong resistance is present. 
The visionnaire mentioned on page 36, who saw her neighbor 
as an angel, was very deficient in intelligence; further, the 
girl described on page 86, who suffered from paralysis of the 
arm, weakness in the leg and twitching of the mouth, was of 
poor talents and could not be promoted in the folk-school. If 
the analysis, however, must penetrate deeply, under strong 
resistance, then the skill of the most able pedagogues should 
refuse where there is wanting the capacity for combination. 

Even with such pupils, a certain result is possible. I freed 
the boy described on page 159, who was of very poor mental 
endowment, from the obsession for awakening his brother by 
sticking his finger in the brother's mouth and reduced the 
number of attacks. The moral insight also increased. But 
complete health I did not attain. To-day, I perceive that I 
also made technical errors: when the answers were not given, 
I threatened to break off the analysis and compelled communi- 
cations. I think, nevertheless, that even without those errors, 
I would not have arrived at the goal. 

Unintelligent individuals are treated by consolation and 
admonition with suggestion — by physicians, with hypnosis. 

518 



AGE OF SUBJECT OF ANALYSIS 519 

On the other hand, uneducated people of good minds are gen- 
erally pleasant to analyze. 

2. Age 

Clever educators can analyze children of three to five years, 
as Freud and Jung have shown. From their observations, one 
learns to comprehend the conduct in the first months of life. 
One understands that not only erotic experiences but also 
change in nourishment, sleeping quarters and other processes 
presuppose adaptations for which, neurotically predisposed 
children are not always ready. 

In general the rule is : One analyzes children only when it 
is absolutely necessary to eliminate their fixation of instinct 
and this not deeper than their trouble renders inevitable. 

We know that fixed instinct may itself also under certain 
circumstances break new useful channels. That which power- 
fully preserves the complex is often a groundless fear, a con- 
tinued unfavorable influence from the outside, ^ persistent 
refractoriness against a duty imposed by the mental make-up 
and the external relations. A quieting word of consolation, 
the righting of a tormenting illusion, an awakening word of 
encouragement which raises the self-confidence, the expression 
of recognition and love, can often bring about a freeing of the 
imprisoned instinct. In particular, a pedagogically proper 
religious and moral instruction may contribute as much to the 
overcoming of neurotic phenomena as a false, gloomy, threat- 
ening instruction may spoil. The chief thing is that the 
educator see through the phenomena not analyzed and know 
their causes. 

Girls from fourteen to sixteen years of age are hard to treat 
in the analysis since their eroticism is not yet purified. Be- 
hind decorum, there often lurks boundless desire which is not 
yet mindful of the earnest moral responsibility and which sub- 
mits to sublimation with difficulty. Still, cures in this age are 
also quite frequent. 

The upper limit of age when people may be analyzed, Freud 
placed formerly in the neighborhood of the fiftieth year of 



620 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

life,* since old persons are no longer capable of being educated. 
Further, it is fearful to contemplate that one had been made 
a fool of and injured by illusions, for the greatest part of his 
life, fearful to perceive that the strength for suitable reor- 
ganization of life is lost. Yet in mild cases in old people, an- 
alyses may be done and cures attained as I showed in one 
example (noise in the ears, twitching of the cheeks, page 41) . 

3. Moral Qualities 

Moral defectives are analyzable under some circumstances 
when they perceive that they obtain a gain by the statement of 
the truth. On the other hand, it is painful for the analyst to 
see a healed rascal go forth from his work, now more dangerous 
for the community than when his illness made him an invalid. 
Fortunately, the diagnosis of moral imbecility (moral insanity) 
may be made with great certainty before the psychoanalysis is 
started. I advise pedagogues having individuals who have 
behind them a series of base conduct, to obtain a diagnosis 
from a psychiatrist. I have never found that a person an- 
alyzed by me became morally worse. On the other hand, I 
have seen in one young man that after the (incompleted) 
analysis, he was further addicted to his Don Juanism. A de- 
cided improvement appeared during the first months of the 
treatment when a regular chaos of hysterical troubles, con- 
vulsions, obsessional acts, phobias and hallucinations was 
quickly eliminated. The change for the worse began when I 
started to admonish him and to interest him in useful works, 
abstinence, Sunday School, social problems, etc. He imme- 
diately put me in the father role and resumed his immoral 
conduct. Of course I did not at that time know the psychology 
of Don Juanism ( 329 ) . 

Psychoanalysis will always trace back to the original condi- 
tion and bring into application the educational influences work- 
ing upon this. Congenital inferiority, it cannot remove. 

I consider the psychoanalysis impossible in mendacious per- 
sons who see no profit in their cure. Further, with all those 

* Freud, U. Psychotherapie. Kl. Sclir. I, p. 213. 



MORAL CONDITIONS OF THE ANALYSIS 521 

who do not tell falsehoods at all but raise the principle of the 
least expenditure of effort to the maximum of their action. 
The wife who, as severe sufferer, is coddled, as healthy person 
is troubled with burdensome demands, the man to whom pe- 
cuniary advantage results from his neurotic incapacity for 
work, the child who can escape his duties by the aid of a patho- 
logical symptom, for example, headache, the lazy student who 
gets out of an examination by hysterical defects, the son with 
negative attachment to the father, who brings the latter to 
despair by his obsessional acts — in short all who prefer a 
pathological phenomenon to a hard moral task and are not 
capable of applying their minds to ethical deeds, all these are 
outside of consideration for analysis. One may exert himself 
ever so much in their behalf, they will not be saved. Even the 
most good-natured and sympathetic analyst loses all interest 
when he has to diagnose this attitude of mind. 

In order not to be misunderstood, we emphasize again that 
many obsessional liars, kleptomaniacs, work-fearers and anar- 
chists are sacrifices to a complex-constellation and in themselves 
are people of high ethical value. For the educator, the dis- 
tinction of these two classes of moral inferiority is of immense 
importance. 

To the indispensable moral conditions of an analysis, I reckon 
a strong will-to-health and the readiness to eliminate the eth- 
ical defects lying at the bottom of the disturbance of health, 
even though great and painful sacrifice of self-esteem, renun- 
ciation of sweet anachronisms and the assumption of new bur- 
dens is demanded. Nietzsche says very truly: ''To make 
one's self really to new values, that is the most fearful change 
for a lazy and conservative spirit. ' ' * 

The analysis makes everyone who yields to it, kind toward 
the failings of his fellowmen. But it cannot, as Freud rightly 
warns, lead to the point of pushing everything which makes 
inferior persons incapable of existence, into the category of 
disease.! 

* Nietzsche, Zaratliustra I, Die drei Verwandlungen. 
t Freud, U. Psychotherapie. Kl. Schr. I, p. 212. 



522 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

With healthy individuals, scientific interest must replace the 
interest in health, something which it can usually do only in 
part. The analysis of healthy people is therefore, on the whole, 
more difficult than that of patients. 

4. Medical Conditions 

Psychoanalysis is excluded in profound confusion and excite- 
ment. It is dangerous in catatonics since under some circum- 
stances, the timid instinct creeps still farther inward and re- 
tires from reality. Of course, severe cases of catatonia have 
been healed by analysis.* Mild introversions, the physician 
will be glad to trust to the educator skilled in analysis, re- 
serving to himself nevertheless, the supervision of the discharge 
and assistance in the treatment. Fortunately, one can assert 
definitely that manic-depressive insanity (circular insanity) 
and dementia praecox (schizophrenia according to Bleuler, 
paraphrenia according to Freud) have been cured by psycho- 
analysis. The pedagogue will guard himself well, however, 
against treating such severe cases without the aid of a physi- 
cian. I do not consider it necessary to say more concerning 
this subject here, for the educator, as already noted, has to 
obtain direct instruction from the physician for the mental 
treatment of patients. 

5. Analysis of Kelatives and Autoanalysis 

The personal relations between analyst and subject may now 
be briefly mentioned. A condition of being-related always 
has a highly disturbing influence on the deeper analysis. The 
analyst's own children, so far as they are accustomed to free 
conversation with their parents, proceed most easily, as Freud 's 
splendid child-analysis shows, the association material for 
which was collected by the father, t Aside from this instance, 
only slight, superficial analyses of relatives can be made. 

The autoanalysis comes into consideration preeminently for 
theoretic purposes. As an introduction into the elements of 

*A. Muthmann, Z. Psychol, u. Ther. neurot. Symptome, Halle, 1907. 
t Freud, Analyse der Phobie eines 5jahr. Ivnaben. Jahrb. I, pp. 1-109. 



LIMITS OF AUTOANALYSIS 523 

the dream-theory, it is to be highly recommended. A deep 
autoanalysis is difficult of accomplishment. Even very skilled 
and clever analysts, in need of analysis, turn to a colleague. 
Mild neurotic symptoms, as migraine, insomnia, itching of 
hemorrhoids, nervous diarrhea, etc., may of course often be 
eliminated by autoanalysis, but severe phenomena certainly 
cannot be so removed. As after-treatment in minor troubles or 
to understand one's own actions better, slight autoanalysis, 
which does not degenerate into racking one's brains, is in- 
dicated. 

To pursue the autoanalysis merely as a pastime is a mis- 
chievous undertaking. Against a sincere attempt on the part 
of healthy individuals, there is no objection. They may even 
get much profit from it. On the other hand, introverted per- 
sons easily suffer injury, it may even be conceived that out- 
breaks of severe neuroses have been occasioned by autoanalyses. 
From theoretical and practical considerations, therefore, I 
would advise caution. 



SECTION 5 
THE PRACTICE OF PEDANALYSIS 

CHAPTER XXIV 

LEARNING PEDANALYSIS 

This book thus far serves to introduce the reader to psycho- 
analysis. There is no intention of replacing the study of the 
other works covering our field. He who wishes to work most 
effectively, will first of all procure Freud's works which may 
be read most advantageously in the order of their appearance.* 
The works of Freud published in the Jahrhuch, Zentral- 
hlatt and Imago are to be carefully perused. In so doing, 
one should bear in mind this circumstance: Freud is ac- 
customed, in the later editions of his works, to leave the earlier 
conclusions unchanged, even where he has modified them. 
Only seldom does he correct earlier errors in foot-notes. The 
reader is thus compelled to follow closely the development 
of psychoanalysis. Only after a knowledge of the whole in- 
vestigation has been gained, can one be sure of knowing the 
present theory of the great scholar, which fortunately stiU 
admits of much development. 

* Only Freud's lectures on psychoanalysis are to be read first. Be- 
sides Messmer's excellent article, "Die Psychanalyse und ihre Entwick- 
lung" (Berner SeminarbUitter 1912, parts 12-17) Hitschmann's "Freuds 
Neurosenlehre" gives the best orientation. Unfortunately, the latter is 
without illustrative cases and is intended principally for physicians. 
Tliere is an English translation of Hitsehmann by Payne, published by 
the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease in its Monograph Series, 
N. Y. Another recent book is Leo Kaplan's Grundziige der Psycho- 
analyse, Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna, 1914. For English readers, 
there are also Brill's book, "Psychanalysis" (N. Y.), and Jones' "Pa- 
pers on Psychoanalysis" (London and N. Y.). 

524 



LEARNING PSYCHOANALYSIS 525 

The other investigations are referred to in full in the period- 
icals often cited. 

Nevertheless, I do not consider it correct to work through 
too much literature before the personal analytic attempt is 
made. * * Even the physician, who has learned analysis entirely 
from books without having submitted himself to a thorough 
mental analysis and having collected practical experiences from 
patients, cannot be convinced of the truth of the patient 's pro- 
ductions; he gains at most a more or less high degree of 
confidence, which may temporarily approximate conviction 
very closely, behind which, however, suppressed doubt ever 
lurks. ' ' * 

Formerly, the critics complained that Freud presented only 
assertions and no observations. The complaint was ground- 
less, for in the writings attacked, there is an immense amount 
of observation material presented. To give more, were super- 
fluous, for he who falls into the old error of the scholar of not 
wanting to see, can never be convinced by the thousands of 
corroborations which have been made by hundreds of followers 
of Freud or Freud's theories. Such fugitives from the facts 
have only themselves to blame if the development has escaped 
them and left them in the rear. 

The founder of psychoanalysis wrote for such as have eyes 
and will learn by testing for themselves. The objection that 
one does not know how this work is to be performed, is in- 
comprehensible to me. I began my first analyses on my own 
dreams after reading the little brochure of Freud's "tJber 
den Traum" (Concerning the Dream) and found, to my 
astonishment, the startling statements of that publication in 
good part substantiated. In most of my experiments, I ob- 
tained an interpretation, superficial but nevertheless compelling 
conviction. The testing of the larger "Traumdeutung" (In- 
terpretation of Dreams) furnished me a deeper understand- 
ing; I recognized the necessity of an overinterpretation of 
those primitive attempts at explanation. Why should not 

* Ferenczi, U. passagere Symptombildungen wahrend der Analyse. 
Zbl. II, p. 588. 



5^6 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

others also accomplish what so many have already done? 

I would advise first utilizing the association scheme of Jung 
and testing it in the manner described in Chapter XH, 4, in 
order to investigate the reactions obtained, namely the com- 
plex-indicators. This method is the easiest of all but does not 
lead into the depths, since the journey into the land of the 
manifestation is always interrupted anew by each new stimulus 
word. 

When one has learned the dream theory, one begins with the 
intention of testing by the analysis one's own dreams. Even 
the interpretation of the uppermost stratum affords not a little 
satisfaction. A supervision by an experienced psychoanalyst 
is desirable, since he can point out many refinements and dis- 
close many deeper connections. 

Further, little mistakes in action, of striking kind (mistakes 
in speech, in writing, transpositions) may come next. Haunt- 
ing melodies or words may be honored with a psychoanalytic 
investigation. Arbitrary, meaningless words or flourishes are 
to be attacked. 

Of such analyses of manifestations, everyone is capable who 
is not too strongly possessed of the complex-devil. 

Further, a slight symptom-analysis where the resistance is 
quite mild, is not a great task when one is satisfied with 
therapeutic results and knowledge of the determinants lying 
uppermost in consciousness. 

On the other hand, the analysis of resistance which we can- 
not avoid in severe cases, presupposes experience and great 
inner freedom. The most careful description cannot detail the 
manifold tricks and devices of which one can make use. In 
order to apply them, it is well if one has himself been in the 
role of subject of an analysis. 

For these reasons, it is to be desired that everyone who is 
going into difficult analj^ses, should be considerably analj^zed 
by an experienced psychoanalyst. Even in purely scientific 
disciplines, instruction by competent teachers is considered in- 
dispensable. How much more is this requirement demanded 
in an artistic activity — and psychoanalysis is in great part an 



PHYSICIAN WITH EDUCATOR 627 

artistic mode of work. There are certainly excellent auto- 
didacticians also in our field, but in general, their way is not 
to be recommended. Most of them stop much too soon and do 
not know it, but their pupils suffer the injury. They project 
themselves into the subjects and do not see the latter ob- 
jectively. 

Especially desirable further is the co-operation of analytic 
physicians in the treatment of neurotic individuals. It is a 
mischievous undertaking to begin with the analysis of persons 
severely ill. Instructive is the example of Aschaffenburg who 
came upon a sexual complex in a woman suffering from ob- 
sessional washing and fear of touching things, but in the 
excitement which set in, instead of drawing out the pathogenic 
material, he strictly forbade every thought of sexual experi- 
ences and would know nothing of the motives for the anxiety 
for speaking of the intimate secrets.* With even a modest 
experience, he would have known that the anxiety expressed 
a repressed wish (compare anxiety for burglars in the garden, 
418, for sticking one's self in the eye, 160). The momentary 
excitement of the patient threw him into consternation. He 
acted like a surgeon who, having cut into a swelling and found 
pus, instead of drawing it off and washing out the wound, 
strictly forbade taking away the foul stuff and sewed up the 
wound. Such procedures are reprehensible torture. But 
what would Aschaffenburg say to a man who would begin his 
surgical activity with an extremely severe and dangerous 
operation ? Or what would he think of a pulmonary specialist 
who at once sent a patient away from a sanitarium in the 
mountains because, immediately after his arrival, febrile 
phenomena appeared, and told the world that the treatment 
in the mountains was to blame ? Our opponent has only shown, 
according to the judgment of his colleagues versed in analysis, 
that one may have an excellent knowledge of old-time psy- 
chology and be a useful, conscious-psychologist without under- 
standing psychoanalysis and being able to apply it correctly, 

* Aschaffenburg, Die neueren Theorien der Hysteria. Deutsche med. 
Wochenschrift 1907, No. 44. 



628 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

When, however, so experienced a psychiatrist can get so ex- 
cited over the momentary effect of psychoanalysis, how much 
more must the laity beware of awakening spirits which they 
cannot banish ! 

Study, analysis of quite simple manifestations in healthy 
persons, particularly in one's own self, being analyzed, be- 
ginning with quite mild eases, this seems to me the ideal way. 
To travel this way is to-day, since the new educational method 
is still but little disseminated, not very easy. It is not denied, 
of course, that all do not need the same amount of introduction. 
I know teachers who learned to understand pupils analytically 
by study alone, and by knowledge of the pathogenic causes, 
without psychoanalysis, protected the patients against threat- 
ening new disasters. 

As remarked, in contrast to some who consider psycho- 
analysis easy,* I consider it a difficult educational method. 
Many learn it quickly, but in some situations, even the most 
talented and clever analysts are thrown into embarrassment. 
For my part, I want also to warn against overestimating the 
difficulties. Even with modest analytic ability, much success- 
ful work may be done, while the most difficult, pathological 
cases, we leave provisionally to the physician. 

♦Freud, Kl. Schr. I, pp. 202, 222; II, p. 69. 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE DOMAIN OF THE PEDANALYSIS 

TJnder pedanalysis, I understand in this connection an edu- 
cational method practiced by professional pedagogues. I am 
well aware that this definition involves a certain arbitrariness. 
The analysis performed by a physician on a young person is 
also a pedagogic one. Even in the name, the difficulty of 
separating the medical analysis from the professional educa- 
tional analysis, is indicated. 

1. The Rights of the Pedagogic Psychoanalysis 
(a) the analysis op healthy individuals 

The treatment of the healthy pupil is solely a matter for the 
pedagogue. Pedagogy has to decide how far the healthy pupil 
may and should be analyzed. We have already expressed the 
opinion that an analysis of youthful persons is only to be un- 
dertaken when necessary, hence the healthy youth drops out of 
consideration. On the other hand, a good bit of psychoanalysis 
can be done without the youth's knowing it. The clever edu- 
cator can guess from essays and symptomatic acts, hundreds of 
important background processes which would otherwise remain 
hidden, as indeed the knowledge of humanity in general gains 
an unsuspected enrichment from psychoanalysis. 

Little superficial analyses for the purpose of theoretical 
demonstration will naturally do no harm although it may be 
asked how far one may go in this direction. It would be bad, 
if, for instance, pupils of a teachers ' seminary were to receive 
a half-understanding of the analysis and should make fool- 
hardy attempts with this little knowledge. It seems obvious 

529 



530 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

to me that the new educational work must sometime be known 
to every teacher. That everyone should make practical use of 
it, is not my intention. 

An immense field of work is opened to the analyzing educa- 
tion in the salvation of those who are not sick in the medical 
sense, yet have their lives disturbed and destroyed as a result 
of continuing unconscious anachronisms. To-day, the analytic 
neurologist receives many of this class of persons. They treat 
with wonderful results sons who behave very badly at home 
and in school, daughters who suffer from fluctuating erotic 
conditions or female Don Juanism, unhappy marriages, etc., 
all however, only when no severe constitutional defects are 
present. In so doing, they attain much better results than 
professional educators and pastors untrained in analysis, since 
they receive into their treatment almost entirely only indi- 
viduals on whom the forenamed have tried their skill. Also, 
fatal distortions of character, religious abnormalities, ethical 
monstrosities do not belong so much in the keeping of the 
neurologist and psychiatrist as in that of the analytic peda- 
gogue. 

Likewise to the latter belongs the noble work of prophylaxis. 
But how can one rightly prevent disease who does not know its 
causes ? 

(b) the right of the pedagogic analysis on sick children 

The analytic therapy is, as is admitted on all sides, a work 
of education. That far, the medical man invades the field of 
the pedagogue. The treatment of the sick, however, is an 
affair of the physician. If the pedagogue exercises his office 
on sick children, it may be asked, whether he does not invade 
the rights of another profession. 

So long as medicine followed, wholly or predominantly, 
physiological ways, a sharp division was possible. Should the 
professional educator, today, after the physician himself has 
become pure educator for a great number of patients, simply 
withdraw, or does he possess the right also to treat the mental 
conflicts when a medically pathological trait appears, as he has 



RIGHTS OF PEDAGOGIC ANALYSIS 531 

these same processes to treat exclusively, when — I might almost 
say accidentally — no pathological sign appears? 

I believe that everyone is agreed in the view that physician 
and educator exist for the sake of the child, not the child for 
their sake. Consideration for the welfare of the child may thus 
be the supreme test for the decision of our problem. I will not 
boast, therefore, that historically, psychotherapy was for thou- 
sands of years an affair of the priests and other educators 
before the medical men engaged in it. 

From this standpoint, the following considerations speak 
for a pedagogic analysis : 

1. The great majority of physicians is not so familiar with 
the child mind as the teacher and pastor. The physician as 
physician studies people predominantly as physiologist, there- 
with knowing them according to the physical side; the peda- 
gogue submerges himself early and late in the child mind and 
thereby adapts himself for the psychoanalysis, on a whole, more 
easily and quickly than the physician. Of course, the analytic 
neurologist will also much surpass the educator as student of 
the mind. 

2. In many insignificant pathological symptoms, there is a 
large educational work to be performed. Hence, since a tres- 
pass by one profession upon the other is not to be avoided, the 
pedagogue commits far less usurpation than the physician. 

3. A considerable percentage of all pupils in country and 
city are neurotics. Admonitions, punishments and promises 
are rendered of no account by the tyranny of the complexes, 
while the analysis, by setting the individual free from these 
inhibiting complexes, can work transformations in the life. 
Has the teacher now a right to dismiss from educational con- 
sideration such pupils, who are often the most valuable ones, 
the leaders of their classes, when, for example, a little stutter- 
ing or writing disturbance is exhibited? 

4. The analysis of healthy individuals is best learned on 
patients, because these show many phenomena most plainly 
and require the deepest exploration. 

5. The teacher sees the neurosis when he understands it. 



5S2 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

earliest, and can therefore guard most efficiently against mis- 
fortune. He will also, as we shall soon show, direct the suf- 
ferer to the physician best adapted for handling this class of 
cases. When the teachers understand enough of pedagogic 
analysis, the physicians will receive more analytic work 
through them, for to-day, much too few patients come into 
medical care within the period when they may be benefited. 
It is greatly to be desired that teachers should consult more 
with the physicians. In the neglect of this consultation, much 
harm is done by pedagogic ignorance. 

6. The power of the physicians could never suffice to elimi- 
nate the vast array of neurotic disturbances. In particular, 
without pedanalysis, numerous poor children lose the benefit 
of appropriate help, since the physician, for reason of support 
of self and family, cannot give them his valuable time in suf- 
ficient amount, no matter how sympathetic he may be. 

2. The Bounds of the Pedanalysis 

The danger and foolishness of a ''wild" pedagogic analysis 
has been pointed out many times. I emphasize again the most 
important points: 

1. The educator is often unable to tell whether a psychogenic 
or physiogenic disturbance is present. Even a clever physician 
is very often compelled to go to the specialists for a diagnosis. 
A pedagogue, who, for example, would drive away neuralgic 
pains, might easily consider every neuralgia as hysteria and 
apply the analysis in unwise manner. Now, to be sure, this 
work can do no harm directly, but under some circumstances, it 
might consume time within which, another treatment, for ex- 
ample, surgical, might be applied with success.* 

2. Further, the pedagogue cannot diagnose mental anomalies 
sufficiently well. Often he does not know whether hysteria or 
obsessional neurosis, catatonia or some other beginning psy- 
chosis is present. The suicide of a patient will be charged to 
him while the physician is excused when it happens to him. 

* Stekel, Zur Differentialdiagnose organischer u. psychogener Erkran- 
kungen. Zbl. I, p. 45 ff. 



PEDAGOGIC TREATMENT OF SICK 533 

Further, the psychiatrist recognizes changes for the worse in 
mental disease earlier than the teacher. 

3. The Fundamental Characteristics of the Pedagogic 
Treatment of the Sick 

1. In all pathological cases which are not insignificant 
(analogous to the minor surgery of the barber), the pedagogue 
obtains the diagnosis from an analytic physician wherever 
possible and has him authorize the educational work. Danger- 
ous cases, he will gladly renounce. 

2. In the further course of the analysis, he will keep in touch 
with the physician where it is necessary, and in case of need, 
obtain his advice. 

3. The analyzing educator, in his work on patients, never 
considers himself as rival of the experienced physician but al- 
ways as pupil, helper and co-worker. 

If the educator adheres to these fundamental principles, he 
has good right to be recognized in his analytic work, not as lay- 
man but as professional. To this end, not only his office as pro- 
fessional educator aids him, but also his scientific training. 
It is beyond question that the psychoanalytic investigation 
and the elaboration of its technique has much of value to expect 
from keen-sighted educators and no physician will hesitate to 
accept this service gratefully. 

Our experience agrees fully with the expressions which 
Prof. Freud has contributed to this book. Aside from him, 
there have spoken concerning this circumstance only phy- 
sicians who understand nothing or almost nothing of psycho- 
analysis. That they are indignant when someone else does 
something which was denied to them, will neither surprise nor 
disturb us. A real professional, Riklin, expresses himself 
thus : ' ' Obviously, we must greet the collaboration of philolog- 
ists, pedagogues and others with joy. We need them and have 
the greatest stimulus to expect from them. For psycho- 
analysis can never be limited to pathology. Further, it is 
very desirable that the educated world should acquire psycho- 
analytic knowledge. From the strictly medical standpoint, 



534 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

much is to be expected from this collaboration and a restriction 
of the neuroses in particular. The principle of the necessary- 
liberation from the parents, the knowledge of the own per- 
sonality, the conditions of marital competence, etc., must have 
an unconditional mitigating influence. Besides a prophylactic 
result, a therapeutic one must also be present. It will be less 
possible for the conflicts to hide behind the poor masks of the 
neurosis and happen less often that a patient can terrorize his 
whole environment. A number of conflicts, for example, those 
of puberty, will be judged quite differently and be led to 
rational solutions. 

Concerning the practice of analysis by non-physicians (of 
the physicians who, should not do analysis, I have already 
spoken) the following standpoint may well be taken: There 
are non-physicians of great psychological acumen and com- 
plete comprehension of psychoanalytic questions whose col- 
laboration we very much need: in the assistance of the phy- 
sician, in the education of neurotic children, etc. For the 
sake of order, we must wish that the patients treated by these 
non-physicians should have the diagnosis passed on by a phy- 
sician schooled in analysis and that the latter should keep in 
touch with the course of the analji:ic treatment and help bear 
the responsibility. Against this formulation, it will be dif- 
ficult to flnd an important objection. 

To declaim against the application of analytic knowledge in 
pedagogy and to want to forbid the pedagogue from that 
kind of conference with his, pupils, seems to me unreason- 
able."* 

*Eiklin, tj. Psa. Corr. bl. f. Schweizer Arzte 1912, No. 27, 1020 f. 



CONCLUSION 
THE RESULTS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 

CHAPTER XXVI 
THE PRACTICAL BENEFITS 

Two enemies lie in wait for every powerful new move- 
ment: the over-valuation of its adherents and the under- 
valuation of its opponents. Psychoanalysis has encountered 
both in surprising degree. It afforded its adherents a joyous 
enthusiasm, which meanwhile found a rather exuberant ex- 
pression and irritated the opponents unnecessarily. To the 
writings of this class, belong my own first works, in which, 
from joy over unexpected practical results and scientific dis- 
coveries, I struck a temporarily injudicious and over-affective 
tone. The greatest error in this was that I, looking through 
rose-colored glasses, estimated the practical difficulties and 
theoretical mysteries too low and emphasized them too little ; 
Psychoanalysis is to-day, and in important points, will be for 
a long time yet, in the stage of testing and proving. I believe 
that we psychoanalysts should have learned much more from 
the foresight and modest reserve of Freud. Perhaps some 
of us sought unconsciously from praise for our work, a com- 
pensation for the immeasurably violent attacks on our intel- 
lectual and even moral qualities to which we were exposed. 

To-day they have become calmer on either side. Far less 
often than formerly, does the polemic assume an improper 
tone. There are even one-time opponents who are beginning 
to test whether Freud may not in the end be right. Bruno 
Saaler has just published an hysteria-analysis which purifies 
itself most carefully from having proceeded from the Freudian 

535 



536 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

technique. Against the latter, Saaler even protests that it esti- 
mates the "resistances" arbitrarily. Nevertheless, the author 
attempts to apply the theory of psychoanalysis to a case of 
hysteria, and behold, he finds that Freud's fundamental prin- 
ciples of explanation are entirely substantiated and light 
thrown into great darkness. Thus, he comes, plainly in spite 
of himself, to the confession "that for the understanding of 
certain hysterical maladies, the Freudian theory is in fact in- 
dispensable. ' ' * The student will wonder how Freud 's ' ' arbi- 
trary" methods can give such correct results that even an ap- 
parently little inclined critic must feel himself compelled to 
acknowledge their validity. He will wonder further that a 
man like Saaler could ignore the therapeutic experiences of 
physicians who have analyzed for decades and choose pro- 
cedures which are in contradiction to his theoretic statement — 
I mention only the frequent physical (also gynecological) in- 
vestigations and daily incidents which must influence the 
sexual life of the patients unfavorably. The psychoanalyst 
can be satisfied with Saaler 's results. We all calculated ex- 
actly like him and would to-day be satisfied with this cor- 
rect but superficial explanation if we had learned nothing in the 
last few years. What we are exposed to in the work of the 
newly arrived analyst, disappears nevertheless beside the great 
service of the author, in whom there is finally given us an in- 
vestigator who has undertaken the venture of looking the facts 
in the face. 

That which Freud and his adherents have to regret to-day is 
not the contempt for the individual — very seldom is the origi- 
nator of a mental movement so furiously attacked by the 
authorities in wrath and excommunication, so highly esteemed 
personally, even by opponents, as Freud. We complain rather 
of the contempt for the facts, and find in this, the confirma- 
tion of the bitter saying of the gifted Anatole France : ' ' Les 
savants ne sont pas curieux" (Jung). Still, the signs 
multiply that at least those of the investigators still capable of 

* D. Saaler, Eine Hysterie- Analyse und ihre Leliren. Allg. Zschr. f. 
Psychiatrie u. Psychisch-gerichtl. Medizin, LXIX (1912) p. 866. 



BENEFITS FROM PSYCHOANALYSIS 537 

learning, are freeing themselves from the previous ontophobia. 
I therefore consider an agreement with a part of the opposition 
as imminent. 

My explanations, free from emotional restriction, may there- 
fore state openly what education has to expect from psycho- 
analysis and its never absent synthetic complement. 

1. The Cure op the Subjects of Education "Who Deviate 
From the Normal 

A considerable number of pupils with marked pathological 
symptoms have crossed the preceding pages of this book. 
Since I have been engaged in analytic pedagogy, I have been 
filled with astonishment at the enormous percentage of neuro- 
tics present in all school classes and of these, indeed, neurotics 
who are in need of analysis. I_ shall give only a few groups. 

A. PHYSICAL DEFECTS 

Bed-wetting, stuttering, disturbances of writing, twitchings, 
pains in the head and the stomach, neuralgia, intestinal 
troubles, skin eruptions. We remember that all of these dis- 
turbances can also be caused by physiological conditions. 

Of the legion of atypical disturbances, I shall not speak 
further. It is impossible to give all forms of hysterical 
maladies since their number is unlimited. 

B. PSYCHIC DISTURBANCES 

In this field, it is more venturesome than in that of the 
organic, to lay down any boundary between healthy and sick. 
The separation is closely dependent on subjective impression. 

Very frequent abnormalities which the teacher meets, are 
anxiety and obsessional phenomena. Many pupils are path- 
ologically afraid when they are called upon, or have to recite 
something. Many betray their anxiety condition by no ges- 
tures and are accordingly considered stupid or lazy. In a 
considerable number of my cases of this class, an easily recog- 
nizable transposition and identification was present: the fear 
of the father, especially where he had interfered brusquely in 



538 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

the love-life of his son, was transferred upon the teacher or the 
anxiety caused by damming up of eroticism utilized the situa- 
tion of a mild fear to manifest itself by immense accretions of 
affect. The examination-anxiety was repeatedly deciphered 
as repressed wish for verification of potency ; I myself analyzed 
only examination-dreams, which forced this explanation upon 
me. To the anxiety phenomena, often belong, as we know, also 
stuttering and writer's cramp. 

Among frequent obsessions, I mention stereotyped gestures, 
ceremonials in walking on the paving stones (touching or 
avoiding the dividing line between two stones), counting up 
to certain numbers in marching, division of paving stones into 
so and so many steps, obtaining oracles, pondering over waking- 
phantasies, elaboration of secret speech or writing, senseless 
habits of writing (flourishes, shading of certain loops), laugh- 
ing upon occasion of serious remarks, obsessional washing, 
agoraphobia and claustrophobia. 

I stop with these typical obsessions which were accompanied 
by more individual variations. It is unbelievable how many 
obsessional phenomena are present, even among normal indi- 
viduals. There are few pupils who do not show a number of 
such phenomena springing from unconscious trains of thought. 
Usually, the will can suppress them, and although the atten- 
tion neglects them, nevertheless, the stigmata caused by them 
keep cropping out. 

The educator can draw very important conclusions from 
the observation of such obsessional symptoms. 

The observations of abulia (deficiency of will) are impor- 
tant. They proceed from the circumstance that the youth is 
overwhelmed by a conscious or unconscious motive. One of 
my pupils suffered from bitter reproaches against masturba- 
tion which was practiced, on the average, every five weeks. He 
said to me : " Since I cannot stop that habit, I am a person 
without will. ' ' Analysis was superfluous in this case. 

Of all educational problems which demand our analysis, per- 
haps the one most frequently encountered is the withdrawal 
of love from persons and objects. This condition involves 



BENEFITS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 539 

an introversion, which, in severe cases, leads to mental dis- 
ease (catatonia, a form of dementia praecox). Milder intro- 
versions belong to the tasks of the analyzing pedagogue which 
yield most gratitude. An immense number of pupils suffer 
from the condition of their bridges to their fellowmen being 
broken; hence they fall into melancholia and distaste for 
life, indeed into danger of suicide. By th.e aid of transfer- 
ence and the overcoming of the frequently complex-condi- 
tioned, illusory denial of the demands of life, we can success- 
fully turn the instinct which is self -enveloping and depending 
on infantile fixation, to useful objects. This setting-free of 
love can often give a life an entirely new, highly pleasing turn 
and save a soul. Many an incipient Hamlet can be saved from 
catatonia. 

In this connection, the numerous persons who are tired of 
life should be mentioned; these are most suitable cases for 
analysis. 

Further, the undecided individuals who can bring them- 
selves to no decisive action, for example, choosing a profession, 
offer good chances for analysis. Usually, these persons are 
chained by complexes ; for them, an image in the unconscious 
locks the entrance to the life-work. 

How strongly the intellectual performances often depend on 
complex-factors, Alfons Maeder and Otto Mensendieck have 
first shown * in two excellent little articles. Even the best 
pupil does nothing when entanglement of the unconscious 
binds him in chains. Not only is an immense quantity of 
mental energy lost in the autistic elaboration of the material 
thereby afforded, but there is also the need of working out his 
complexes, for constant remolding and distortion of reality. 
By the analysis, tired and uninterested pupils, who are con- 
sidered lazy, but are in reality inhibited by fixations of instinct, 
are transformed into useful, studious pupils who take pleas- 
ure in their work. One cannot influence such persons by pun- 

* Alfons Maeder and Otto Mensendieck, Diskussionvoten in der 
ziirich. psychanalyt. Vereinigung ii. "Psychoanalyse u. Piidagogik" 1912. 
Berner Seminarblatter VI, pp. 303-309. 



540 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ishment and threats for one merely increases the transposition 
with the father. Further, transfer to an educational home of 
freer atmosphere does not solve the complications of their 
minds even when it effects the removal from the parents so 
much to be desired. 

The most important educational problems are the moral 
ones. We saw that psychoanalysis in the treatment of moral 
deficiencies solved many problems which resisted the tradi- 
tional methods. The analysis cannot make a youth who is 
constitutionally defective, good. An ethical imbecile is also 
not to be improved by it. But among the sons and daughters 
who have turned out badly, there is an immense number who 
are only a sacrifice to an obsession proceeding from the un- 
conscious and who, in spite of all external and internal effort, 
all precept and moral instruction, all ascetic practices and 
fervent vows, all punishments and rewards, fall without salva- 
tion to the compulsion to evil and make a wreck of their lives. 

I have described the pathological liar (pseudologist) and 
thief (kleptomaniac), the hater of men (especially parents and 
brothers and sisters, as well as their substitutes) and of ani- 
mals, the solitary men who trust no one and hence can make 
no truly social use of their powers, the quarrelsome, obstinate 
and eccentric people who, in anarchistic bitterness, scent the 
father-substitute everjnvhere and angrily resist it, the crank 
who, in the leading-string of an infantile complex of inferior- 
ity, becomes a disagreeable fool, and in misconstruction of the 
real relations, constantly throws a block between his feet, the 
self-torturer who sentences himself in masochistic pleasure- 
hunger to unfruitful asceticism, and who, because of his in- 
ability to utilize the good things of life, properly rationalizes a 
higher style of life, the grim sadist who executes his inhibited 
sexual instinct with cruel pleasure upon animals and other 
people, perhaps even martyring harmless persons to death in 
the name of Jesus, the fanatic in sport, nature-cures, affairs of 
morality, etc. From the slight peculiarity of reading-mania 
or obsessional smoking, up to the crimes of arson and murder,* 

* H. Schmid, Zur Psychol, der Brandstifter, Psychol. Abh. edited by 



VALUE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS TO MORALS 541 

psychoanalysis shows us an immensely comprehensive and 
well-filled scale of moral offenses resulting from complexes, 
which could be overcome by non-analytic methods in part not 
at all, in part only externally. He who has seen in a large 
number of cases how psychoanalysis has freed with compara- 
tive ease those unfortunates, who, in spite of most grievous 
efforts, found no help within or without, can only regard the 
pedagogic treatment instituted by Freud, with admiration and 
gratitude. 

Obviously, we can also influence very strongly, analytically, 
the valuation of people and view of the world, so far as these 
are dictated by the complex. "We all know how little it avails 
to bring reason to bear on the ideas of set men-haters, women- 
haters and pessimists. The reason is plain : All logical argu- 
ments deal at most with the rationalization, not, however, with 
the real basis, the complex, from which those ideas proceed 
and are of necessity kept fresh. The analyst spares himself 
the useless strife. He either applies the analysis where the 
affairs demand and allow it, or he refrains from doing any- 
thing. 

Finally, we possess in psychoanalj^sis a wonderful instru- 
ment for eliminating certain religious inhibitions and bizarre 
manifestations. 

If we are convinced that in the unconscious, a great part of 
those superpowers dwell, which rule our ordinary as well as 
our impor-tant performances, if we have been taught by ex- 
perience that the analysis exercises a very strong influence on 
those subliminal powers, then we will consider it the duty of 
every professional educator to become acquainted with psycho- 
analysis. 

2. Degree of Mental Restoration and Bad Results 

We may speak of healing in different senses : A wound may 
be well healed if the organism is exactly as powerful and 
capable of resistance as before the injury. A facial erysipelas 

Jung, Vol. I, pp. 80-179. For my refutation of most of Schmid's state- 
ments, see Internat. Zeitschr. f. med. Psa. 111. 



542 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

is completely recovered from, no symptom, no visible defect, 
is left behind but the healed patient is still prejudiced, for he 
is subject in high degree to the danger of a recrudescence. 
Inversely, a broken bone knits so firmly that the once injured 
place enjoys greater solidity than before the fracture. No 
physician can promise that the recovered person will never 
stumble again and break a limb but he can assert that the prob- 
ability of a break in the former position is lessened. Finally, 
we know recoveries which leave the body entirely immune to 
the preceding disease. 

Now, how is the psychoanalytic cure to be understood? 
Freud's expectations were at first very modest. He did not 
think of curing the hysteria itself ; he thought he must be satis- 
fied with the removal of the individual symptoms. Moreover, 
in dementia precox, he held, like Jung, that the analysis was 
inapplicable. The experience of two decades has exceeded 
these all too modest assumptions. Permanent cures of hysteria 
have been observed in immense numbers and even psychoses 
like dementia praecox (in catatonic, hebephrenic and paranoid 
forms) and manic-depressive insanity have been cured analyt- 
ically, even though such outcomes are, for the time being, still 
rare and further the prognosis in this class of maladies seems 
so far rather poor. 

The thoroughness and permanency of the cure depends on 
various factors: on the depth of the actual analytic explora- 
tion (analysis of the past), on the purity of the attitude to- 
ward life (analysis of the future), on the grade of neurotic dis- 
position, on external conditions. In general, one may con- 
fidently say : If subject and analyst have worked carefully to- 
gether, clearly illuminated and vivified the unconscious, dis- 
tinctly recognized the inner law of life, taken firm hold on 
reality, then the one-time sick person is in a position to master 
very hard relations without neurotic relapse. I have often 
seen individuals, who, before the analysis, were thrown off the 
track by petty things, bear grievous experiences of life with 
calm equanimity. The number of relapses knovTn to me is 



BAD RESULTS IN PSYCHOANALYSIS 543 

surprisingly small. If a recurrence of the old symptom occurs, 
a little after-help usually suffices to bring order again. 

The analytic cures may be considered in general as actually 
permanent. In this regard, they surpass very markedly, ac- 
cording to the view of all who know, the cures by hypnosis and 
pure suggestion. 

Even the best methods of treatment have disappointments 
and bad results. Psychoanalysis offers no exception in this 
regard. In all stages of the treatment, one may occasionally 
experience disappointments. Many patients will have nothing 
to do with the analysis after they have heard of the sacrifices 
of time and moral effort which the method demands. They 
were not sincere in wishing salvation. They decide on no 
second visit and the analyst certainly never invites to one. 
Others at first seem willing and disclose a part of their com- 
plex-material. As the deeper impulses in the series appear, 
however, they hide in the bulwarks of an insurmountable re- 
sistance and turn inward only so much the deeper. Still, this 
ease is less frequent. Others go to pieces on the rocks of the 
transference. Still others wish at no price to respect the inner 
imperative and attack the problem of life. 

"We analytic pedagogues do well to search always for the mis- 
takes within ourselves. But we make ourselves guilty of sus- 
picious mistreatment of self when we set the bad result down 
to our own account every time. Surely, we all have very 
much to learn and psychoanalysis still greatly needs careful 
elaboration, but infallibility we shall never attain. 

If we count up the results and failures of psychoanalysis, 
there still remains a very great pedagogic gain. 



CHAPTER XXVII 
THE RESULTS FOR PEDAGOGY 

That education receives from the psychoanalytic investiga- 
tion a greatly strengthened importance, has already been ex- 
plained (113f). It may now be pointed out that this consists 
in an extensive and an intensive increase in value. The for- 
mer, because the first four or five years of life predetermine 
with uncommon force the future development; and also the 
need for education in many neurotic healthy and sick adults 
comes glaringly to expression. The intensive increase in 
valuation of education results from the sufficiently proven 
circumstance that the mental achievements of a whole life- 
time, even as far as the attitude toward humanity, choice of 
profession, artistic, ethical, philosophic and religious en- 
deavors depend, in great part, on educational influences. In 
order to forestall a harmful misunderstanding, it may at once 
be added that the higher valuation of educational influences 
perhaps — we shall investigate the problem — ^narrow the extent 
of the voluntary influences upon the pupil and force a fight 
against ' ' over-education. ' ' 

Also the kind and method of pedagogy, under which we do 
not understand with Diirr * merely a science, but with Mess- 
mer,t theory and practice of education, experiences a change 
from the analysis. Previously, it devoted itself almost ex- 
clusively to the conscious mental life of the pupil ; when it also 
attempted to bring out unconscious or dispositional objects of 
physical or (rarely) psychical kind, it turned in so doing to 
the conscious thought, feeling and will and made use of the 

* Diirr, Einfuhrung in der Padagogik, p. 16. 
t Messmer, Lehrbuch der allgem. Pad. p. 4. 

544 



PSYCHOANALYSIS IN PEDAGOGY 545 

synthesis. If we are now certain that the mental processes 
go back in great part to unconscious processes and are to be 
strongly influenced by penetration into the unconscious 
regions of the mind, indeed that very often alone by such 
analytic work the desired influencing of harmful tendencies 
is to be attained, then psychoanalysis becomes an important, 
in many cases, even an indispensable educational instrument, 
even though it cannot be applied in practice by all educators. 

This is not proclaiming psychoanalysis the only sacred, only 
justifiable or even only necessary method. As little as ethics, 
esthetics and metaphysics * may expect an answer to all their 
questions from it, so little may the science of pedagogy. The 
former methods and also the experimental ones may calmly 
continue their efforts. I must, of course, frankly confess that 
for me the analytic work gained incomparably deeper glimpses 
into the pupils ' minds than all other methods together and that 
I derived far better counsel in very important cases from the 
analysis in the management of the educational object than 
from any kind of text-books, because the latter did not value 
the weightiest determinants of life or at least not enough. 

The pedagogy of the future will without doubt join systemat- 
ically the analytic method more to the synthetic method than 
has been possible in this book. 

In the present status of the investigation, no one will expect 
me to state the whole benefit which pedagogy has to gain from 
the fields of psychoanalysis. What I have to offer are only 
isolated experiments which may invite productive educators to 
investigation on their own part. 

1. Remarks on the Position of Parents to the Child in 

General 

The psychoanalytic pedagogy lays great stress on prophy- 
laxis. It helps us to avoid an immense amount of misery, of 
which to-day even the educators, otherwise clever, are un- 
suspectingly guilty. The importance of prevention was also 
emphasized in the older education. 

* Silberer, Eine prinzip. Anregung. Jahrb. IV, p. 801 ff. 



546 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

We have heard that the attitude toward the parents very 
often determines for a lifetime the attitude toward people in 
general and toward life itself. In almost every pupil who 
hates the teacher, in many anarchists and haters of religion, 
we discover a disguised enemy of the father. Such revolution- 
aries do not mind destroying themselves if only their hate 
comes to its reckoning. In many a Don Juan, we found the 
childish remnant of a fixation on the mother. 

In the first place, it is desired of parents that they take 
account of the needs of their children for afi:'ection and favor, 
and gratify it in a reasonable manner. In this regard, I need 
to state nothing absolutely new but believe by the description 
of our investigations to be able to lend new weight to the old 
demands. If the child is treated too tenderly and respectfully, 
it is threatened by serious dangers : covetousness awakens to a 
degree plainly characterized by sexuality. The fixation on the 
parents becomes all too strong when sweetest caresses are 
handed out without effort on the part of the child.* When the 
child recoils from the rough external world, he flees, 
frightened, to the household paradise of the child and creates 
for himself autistic pleasure by revivifying the one-time joys 
of childhood. We know that one of the chief sources of the 
neurosis lies here. 

Especially when the child, without valuable achievement, is 
overwhelmed with affection and recognition in sickness, does 
it come into serious danger of obtaining surreptitiously by 
neurotic troubles those sweet pleasures. We have heard of 
bed-wetting to make the father and mother attentive; we 
could, however, name a great number of other coercive habits. 
Too lenient parents, who give their children the best without 
requiring reciprocal performances on their part, easily ruin 
their lives. 

Almost still worse, nevertheless, works the refusal of affec- 
tion and recognition. The child must learn to subject his need 

* Freud, Die zwei Prinzipien des psych. Gesehehens. Jahrb. Ill, p. 6. 
Adler, Das Zartlichkeitsbediirfnis des Kindes. Monatsli. f. Padogogik u. 
Schulpolitik, 1908, p. 8 f . 



TRAINING OF CHILDREN 547 

of love to reality. Further, love is, as Freud says in an unpub- 
lished analysis, an art which must be learned. If the child is 
slighted, if one shows him no sympathy, if one does not listen 
to his wishes and confessions, a repression occurs. The child 
must withdraw the love, which has developed for the mother as 
a result of the reception of nourishment and care of his body, 
from her and if a new carrier of emotion is not at hand, as 
a grandmother or a teacher, introversion will result from the 
erotic damming back. We know that herein the danger of dis- 
taste for life, hatred of humanity, shut-offness and eccentricity 
is near, and the moral development, the unfolding of the per- 
sonality and love for neighbors are seriously endangered. 
If humanity would be spared the many sadistically inclined 
teachers, officers and public prosecutors, mean superiors, ill- 
humored philosophers, education must bring the spirit of 
benevolence more strongly into force. 

For this reason, parents must exercise particular care that 
no feeling of inferiority be aroused. Not only is the feeling of 
physical defect to be avoided but just as much or indeed more 
carefully that of incurable intellectual and moral indignity. 
The belief that the physical constitution is entirely sufficient, 
is certainly also necessary. If an organic inferiority exists, one 
shows the child the possibility of compensations. One should 
not show preference for the boys over the girls, thereby creating 
a "masculine protest" (Adler) in the latter, which may lead 
to the neurosis. Bad pu^jils should be shown the more impor- 
tant censor of the later life and also the high value of proper 
learning. If a complex of inferiority has already been formed, 
it absorbs an immense amount of intellectual energy, substi- 
tutes unproductive anxiety in place of refreshing pleasure, ex- 
changes the joyous play of free interests for a slavish, tor- 
menting attention to routine. Many a father who wishes to 
inspire his weak or differently gifted son, who already suffers 
from repression and fixation, by the evidence of his own 
achievements, forces him into difficult mental straits and robs 
him of an enormous quantity of useful mental energy. Thus, 
it comes about that pupils of supposedly poor endowment, who 



548 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

have been forced by complexes into inhibitions for work, after 
the analysis prove to be people capable of instruction. 

Further, the recognition should be dependent on what may 
justly be expected and not be excessive. Freud rightly lays 
great weight on the point that the attraction of the ego- 
instinct be utilized in the conquest of reality. ' ' Education can 
be described as incitement to the mastering of the pleasure- 
principle, to the replacement of this principle by the reality- 
principle ; it will thus afford an aid to the process of develop- 
ment (from pleasure to reality principle) which concerns the 
ego, to this end making use of the premiums of love on the side 
of the educators and hence miscarrying when the spoiled child 
thinks that it already possesses this love regardless, and can lose 
it under no circumstances. ' ' * 

In order that the child may have a normal relation to father 
and mother, both parents must work together harmoniously. 
Freud remarks : "The wife ungratified by her husband, is, as 
mother, over-tender and sentimental toward the child on whom 
she transfers her need of love and awakens in it sexual pre- 
cocity. The bad relations between the parents irritate the 
emotional life of the child, causing him to feel intensively in 
tenderest age, love, hate and jealousy. The strict education 
which allows no kind of activity to the prematurely awakened 
sexual life, assists the suppressing force and this conflict at 
this age contains everything necessary for the causation of 
life-long nervousness. ' ' t Probably of equal frequency, is the 
other case of a woman detesting the children of a hated hus- 
band. If she wishes to combat her dislike from sense of duty, 
she falls into the counter-reaction of an over-education which 
really drives into the neurosis. In such situations, the chil- 
dren should be entrusted to strangers for education. Freud, 
in oral explanation, presents the thought that a neurosis caused 
by separation from parents unsuitable for educating the child, 
is less bad than an entirely unsuccessful education. 

* Freud, Die zwei Prinz. Jalirb. Ill, p. 6. 

t Freud, Die "kulturelle" Sexualmoral u. d. moderne Nervositat. 
Kl. Schr, II, p. 194. 



EMANCIPATION OF CHILD FROM PARENTS 549 

Finally, it is obvious that the life-force should not be re- 
stricted by the parents to a condition not to be endured, as a 
result of the denial of deep-rooted wishes or the utilization of 
external compulsion. It is better when the highest degree of 
compulsion which the life and the acquirement of the greatest 
possible ability render necessary, is applied by strangers. The 
parents should so far as possible be the liberators, protectors, 
kind helpers and friends of their children, though not as foster- 
ing laziness and sensuality. 

Highly important then is the point of view of the gradual 
separation from the parents. Wise parents educate their chil- 
dren with no more compulsion than is absolutely necessary for 
the adoption of healthy habits of life. They know that not 
obedient, but good children form the goal of education. They 
wish, therefore, not to be overestimated and guard against al- 
lowing fear of their persons to grow as a prevailing attitude. 
They afford their children as much room for expression as pos- 
sible and loose the reins more and more. He who has seen the 
infernal wrath of countless neurotics who are ready to destroy 
themselves merely to torment the father, knows that these 
statements express no commonplace but an ideal, from the at- 
tainment of which, we are for the most part far removed. If 
the emancipation from the parents in favor of higher consid- 
erations once enjoined upon us by Jesus, does not occur, stag- 
nation and regression appear. Even the highly talented Jews 
and Chinese remain dependent on the father for centuries and 
experience an ossification of their culture. 

Only from the gradual relinquishment of the relation of de- 
pendence, can proceed that higher, free piety which gives the 
father the love of the child and forms a source of blessing for 
both. 

To such education, succeed only parents who are themselves 
free from complexes. The mistakes of the children are to a 
certain extent, the reflection of the parents' mistakes. Only 
the person who is educated and inwardly free, can educate 
properly. For every other, even the ideal pedagogic introduc- 
tion is of only modest value. ' 



650 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

2. The Position op the Brotheks and Sisters 

Usually the newborn child is viewed with displeasure by 
little brother and sister but this applies particularly to giving 
up to the newly arrived rival, parental affection and material 
advantages. On this account, the parents should vividly por- 
tray the advantages which the intruding mortal brings with 
him. 

It is not good when brothers and sisters are too closely at- 
tached to one another. Often, this over-affection betrays an 
unconscious fixation which makes itself evident in all kinds 
of ways. We heard of obsessional neurosis as result of f ather- 
and brother-sister complex (72), of inability to speak with a 
strange girl and melancholia accompanying it (266), of in- 
ability to transfer the whole love to the husband (296, 385 
[Ibsen] ), etc. 

Where the attachment becomes incestuous, we find in the 
analysis, as a rule, that the love for the sister, originally and 
actually applied to the mother, and that for the brother, to the 
father. 

Many prominent men have remained fixed in a love for their 
sisters. The quarrel of brothers and sisters therefore has its 
good teleological meaning. 

Further, the hate of brothers and sisters often proves to be 
unfortunate love, as counter-reaction or defence measure 
against incestuous attachment. We disclosed one brother- 
hater as sexual misdoer who sought improper pleasure upon 
the hated one (159) . In my investigations into the psychology 
of hate and reconciliation, I showed another who likewise 
covered his burning love with his hate. I might present still 
many other examples for the proposition that extreme hate be- 
tween brothers and sisters often goes back to love which has 
remained ungranted, but nevertheless deeply placed and I 
can testify that all other pedagogic measures are far inferior 
to the analytic in the treatment of hate between brothers and 
sisters. 

On account of the position which the brothers and sisters 



TEACHER AS FATHER-SUBSTITUTE 551 

hold toward one another according to our moral law, it is not 
good for them to associate too long exclusively with one an- 
other. If no outside playmates are acquired, a fixation easily 
arises which leads to the neurosis. 

3. Teacher and Educator 

Very often the teacher forms a father-substitute for the 
pupil. If, however, he bears more traits which recall the 
mother, he becomes identified with her. Hence the pupil trans- 
fers the emotions suited to one- or both parents upon their rep- 
resentative. If he hates his father, the teacher resembling the 
father must bear the whole grudge, while perhaps another edu- 
cator receives the love directed toward the mother. In path- 
ological cases, for example, in tremendous fear (137), the in- 
terchange is very plain. 

The pedagogue has therefore to say to himself that he enters 
into the inheritance of his pupil's father or figures as contrast- 
ing substitute. If he acts accordingly, he can save himself 
very many unnecessary disciplinary measures and other un- 
pleasantnesses. Further, he does the pupil good. The young 
neurotic wishes to conquer the father in the teacher. He does 
not perceive that he ought to want to learn for himself, he 
thinks of his mentor and, to his injury, gives himself up to the 
father-complex. 

If the teacher allows himself to be provoked to anger, the 
pupil has gratified the evil longing of his unconscious. Fur- 
ther, the other educational errors which the pupil detects with 
keen perception, are provoked in good part by the teacher's 
unconscious. 

Among teachers, there are many who identify themselves 
with their fathers or would outdo them and have chosen their 
profession from this cause.* That they are thus in a sad posi- 
tion is evident. There are pedagogues of superior talents who 

* Maeder reports of a neurotic teacher who constantly phantasied 
himself as animal-tamer or general fighting against an army (Psa. u. 
Pad., p. 297). The man had always wanted to be a soldier. The poor 
pupils ! 



552 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

commit disciplinary blunder after blunder, wbo treat pupils 
totally wrong and derive reproachable educational results from 
these methods because they are laboring under a negative 
father-complex. One of our best analysts told of a patient 
who, as teacher of a secondary school, identified himself with 
his father, an over-strict officer, as theologian, however, with 
his mild-mannered mother. The same man, as teacher, treated 
the pupils with the same cruelty which he had experienced 
from his father, later as theologian, with feminine gentleness. 
The mistakes of classes reflect even plainer the complexes of 
their teacher than the educational deficiencies do the repres- 
sions and fixations of their parents. 

If we would reform the education of youth, I know no better 
means than that we teachers undergo analysis. As often as I 
had the pleasure of analyzing professional colleagues, I ob- 
served a profound shock upon the recognition of manifold 
educational mistakes which had been committed under the in- 
fluence of complexes. 

This inner purification is so much the more important since, 
according to a statement of Mensendieck, the complexes of 
teacher and pupil mutually seek one another. If we are ignor- 
ant of our own inner entanglements, we act perhaps as un- 
conscious imitators and gratify our ambition but we expose 
ourselves to the pupil and can with difficulty perceive his 
highest interests. 

The more completely we see through the pupil, so much the 
more interesting does he become to us. And the more pro- 
foundly he perceives himself understood by us, just so much 
the more influence do we gain over him. He will then no 
longer attempt to escape a just and necessary command by an 
unconsciously produced headache, to gain our sjnnpathy by 
unconsciously arranged sufi^erings and to pose as victim of 
overwork when he is lazy. 

If the educator is freed from the odium of the unloved father 
and if he becomes a positive father-substitute, he will utilize 
this relation repeatedly to guide the pupil to the real tasks of 
life and free self-reliance. Why should one not let himself 



COMPREHENSION OF LIFE-PROGRAM 553 

be a little idolized by young girls who must turn somewhere 
with their emotions ? But the girl pupils must gain the sym- 
pathy of the teacher by worthy achievements. Against hys- 
terical over-sentimentality, which I am accustomed to desig- 
nate ironically as psychic diabetes, one behaves calmly and 
gently negatively. Pupils of doubtful morals, one treats with 
great caution that they may not, realizing a wish, accuse the 
teacher of gross aggressions.* 

It is certain that psychoanalysis also essentially furthers the 
theoretical educational results since it lays the correct af- 
fective foundation for material study, t The dislike for one 
or more particular subjects is often successfuly removed by 
analysis. Maeder % reports of a boy who could not learn 
mathematics and language because his father urged him par- 
ticularly to these subjects ; in the natural sciences and tech- 
nique which were connected by him with the beloved mother, 
he did excellently. The psychoanalysis led the excellent en- 
dowment of the boy to the previously hated subjects as well, 
since it disclosed the father-complex. 

To the most powerful analytic deeds of the educator, be- 
longs the elimination of a life-illusion appearing as manifesta- 
tion. Under this caption, I understand the unconditional 
devotion to an impossible life-program coming about under 
subliminal compulsion, or one based on illusion. We know 
that many individuals get into ruinous place-hunting, proceed- 
ing only from external splendor and applause, because they 
would still an infantile feeling of inferiority. Some suppress 
themselves for their whole life, because they identify them- 
selves with the father-image. Still other normal individuals 

* With, moral defectives, it may happen that they accuse the analyst 
of immoral intentions or indeed actions. This happens not alone in the 
psychoanalytic practice. Morally depraved or hysterical girls have 
often brought innocent teachers to prison. But it would seem that 
from the more exact understanding of the transference and the proper 
handling of this, the analytic method would be much less dangerous 
in this regard than any other. 

t E. Schneider, Psa. u. Pad. Berner Seminarblatter, 1912, No. 11, 

p. 323. 

$ Maeder, Psa. u. Pad., p. 295. 



554 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

cling, as Bertsehinger showed in his interesting work,* as long 
as possible to a life-lie until they are driven to flight into the 
neurosis. Such a life-lie is constantly the counter-reaction 
against a painful certainty and repulsion of a moral demand. 
The fanatic for truth and morality sublimates the liar and 
adulterer in himself, the over-happy individual, who is always 
talking about his "wonderfully harmonious marriage," his 
''incomparable health," etc., hides himself and betrays to the 
one who knows, the inner feeling of unhappiness, but wanders 
on the dizzy path of danger from the precipice and often 
squanders a large part of his energy. The analyst helps such 
blinded persons, who pursue the will-of-the-wisp on the glass 
ball floating over the abyss, to see their real situation and to 
replace the longing for an imaginary goal with the striving 
after an attainable real happiness. 

In this way, even youthful anarchists, gunmen, evil-in- 
tentioned rascals, woman-haters, apostles of a brutal free-love, 
world-despisers, world-conquerors, oppressors and similar dif- 
ficult patients may be made amenable to the educator and allow 
themselves to be saved by him from tormenting, often life-long 
persisting, grievous errors. 

If one has helped only one pupil in a class to salvation, the 
effect upon the class is often very strong,! since just such 
prominent neurotics often give the tone to the class. 

4. Authority and Freedom, Asceticism and 
Indulgence in Pedagogy 

From certain sides, some old demands of the Catholic peda- 
gogy have been put forth anew, especially those of subjection 
to authorities, to asceticism and the forbidding of thought in 
religious matters. 

Asceticism in the sense of the carrying out of artificial re- 
nunciation of pleasure and the infliction of pain for the pur- 

* H. Bertsehinger, Uber Gelegenheitsursachen gewisser Neurosen und 
Psychosen. Allg. Zschr. f. Psychiatrie u. psychiach.-gerichtl. Medizin. 
Vol. 69 (1912), pp. 588-617. 

■\ Maeder, Psa. u. Pad., p. 295. 



CRITICISM OF ASCETICISM 555 

pose of strengthening the will, receives a brilliant illumination 
from psychoanalysis, we have often though to deal with in- 
dividuals who have been brought into dire mental states and 
emotional disease by those enforced demands. 

Aside from the fact that many of these practices, for ex- 
ample, too early rising, breaking of the night's rest, cause 
direct exhaustion, I name the following dangers from asceti- 
cism: 

1. In the ascetic, there develops (masochistic) pleasure in 
self-torture. I recall the young girl, who, from ascetic mo- 
tives, poured on a wound the quadruple strength of corrosive 
prescribed, pretendedly to fix the energy, but who thereby 
felt a distinct sensation of pleasure. Often this masochistic 
desire becomes so strong that it leads to self-destruction, as 
countless women ascetics, Saint Elizabeth in particular, show. 

2. The transference of the libido to reality ceases. The 
ascetic becomes suspicious of real things and introverted. An 
autistic looking-to-the-future mood takes away the value of 
the moral relations and tasks, an ardent eroticism changes 
very often to the ugly form of figures of the future life but at 
the cost of love for neighbors. Or a stoicism bursts forth 
which finally, as we have seen in one case, drives to danger of 
suicide and anxiety, robbing the moral life and likewise the 
libido. 

3. The withholding of proper demands of instinct, for ex- 
ample, in eating, invests the good withheld with a strong over- 
emphasis. The hungry person thinks unduly of food. 

4. If asceticism does not attain its goal, there easily results 
a complete breakdown with self-condemnation and loss of will 
(abulia). These misfortunes are probably among the most 
frequent sacrifices to asceticism, 

5. The repressed instincts often reappear in the center of the 
sublimation in the ugliest manner, compare judges of heretics, 
whose unsatisfied sexual instinct knew how to find satisfaction 
in sadistic form. Asceticism strengthens the morally disrepu- 
table counter-reactions since it prevents the investment of the 
libido in reality. 



556 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

6. He who is harsh with himself by asceticism, becomes the 
same toward others, since masochism and sadism are constantly 
associated. Pharisees, Dominicans and many other adherents 
of asceticism are deficient in pity. This corresponds with the 
fact that the ascetic bears an autoerotic character. 

7. Asceticism displaces the moral combat of socially im- 
portant matters to unimportant private affairs. Thus, an in- 
dividual may shine autoerotically but be a wight in social- 
ethical sense. 

8. Asceticism wishes to take up with coercion a strug- 
gle against the compulsions of complexes and thereby 
causes grievous tortures without the slightest prospect of re- 
sults. 

Because of all these reasons, I consider asceticism, in the 
sense named, a dangerous and highly injurious pedagogic 
measure. That which it cannot achieve with its rack and 
screws, may often be attained by psychoanalysis without any 
torture at all. How many pupils who were visited with ascetic 
demands even to exhaustion and in the masochistic rage of the 
neurotic, eagerly grasped the opportunity for self-maltreat- 
ment until exhausted they broke down, has psyehoanal^^sis 
saved by its message of salvation and gained for morally 
valuable lives ! 

In the place of autoerotic asceticism, psychoanalj^sis sets up 
the practice of neighborly love which fights out the moral 
combat on the floor of reality and helps the dammed-up in- 
stinct to sublimation by way of transference. Not the scourge, 
but love, helps to salvation, not the autoerotic, but the social- 
ethical panerotic asceticism, if we would still retain the his- 
torically important expression for such exercises of the will. 
Love and service is the best self-education. 

The pedagogy of unconditional authority is inglorious in 
the light of psychoanalysis. He who espouses it, suffers from a 
father-complex which allows him to be partial to dogmas, 
priests, sacred writings, scientific quantities, political memo- 
ries and other substitutes but not to come to true individual 
life. The pedagogy of subjection is the source of neuroses and 





AIM OF PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPEUSIS 557 

counter-reactions. It is the grave of the free, fully developed 
and fully valued personality. 

On the other hand, psychoanalysis teaches us that the hap- 
piness of men depends on the suitable investment of the libido 
capital. It shows us that the introverted, inwardly isolated, 
love-poor man is sick. It teaches us that we were all created, 
not like Antigone to hate one another, but to love one another. 
Hence it joins men in love, thus also in freedom, for freedom 
lies in the nature of truly moral love. To draw men from 
introversion, is the aim of the psychoanalytic therapeusis. In 
its eyes, the introverted individual is like a wander-cell which 
has escaped from the organism. Thus the analytic pedagogy 
forms the firmest foundation for the life of the community. 
It furthers also that only true reverence which is equally re- 
moved from self-disparagement and hatred of superiors, the 
manifestation of the positive and negative father-complex. 
Thus the psychoanalytic education agrees with F. Th. Vischer 
who in a happy hour wrote the words : 

"Blindly revered is a great man 
By the good man who can accomplish nothing. 
Not revered is a free man 
By the wight who can see nothing great. 
Freely revered is a great man 
By the man who can do something himself." 

It is striking how in psychoanalytic circles, after the begin- 
ning when only the demand for allowing as much freedom as 
possible in education was emphasized, now the demand for 
strong guidance is also emphasized. To-day, some emphasize 
with Maeder: "For many children, complete freedom means 
dilettantism, the beginning of wasting time, of indolence."* 
"To the natural free development of the child belongs the re- 
gard for his need of guidance. ' ' f But it is well to remember : 
''The guiding role of the physician (we would say of the 
analyzing educator) consists not in his allowing himself to be 
received simply in the series of substitutes for the father 

* Maeder, Psa. u. Pad., p. 2&8. f Same, p. 301. 



558 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

(teacher, pastor, elder friend, a popular hero, a great man, 
the king, a national hero, a great editor or author or artist, 
later, God or a higher principle) but rather in the furtherance 
of the development of the original father-image to the in- 
dividual ideal, i. e., to the ideal vt^hich would have been possible 
for the person in question if he had not been inhibited by the 
infantile fixation."* 

The analyst makes his demands likewise, but he directs the 
mental energies toward the decisive point and does not throw 
them away on the shadow pictures of the manifestation and 
allow them to exhaust themselves there. As has been re- 
marked before, the analysis teaches us to value the helping 
force of work. 

5. Punishment 

I presuppose that the reader considers the aim of punish- 
ment to be improvement. The educator who punishes, \vishes 
to amalgamate with the idea of unlawful desire that of a 
threatening pain and thereby to deter from the same, to make 
the child prudent by injury (wisdom-giving punishment ).t 
Modem pedagogy emphasizes in general that it depends on the 
production of shame and repentance. 

Psychoanalysis shows us that on one side, punishment or any 
other method which takes account only of the conscious mental 
life, cannot possibly attain those moral reactions so long as 
the unconscious interposes its veto, that on the other side, 
shame, repentance, most ardent volition do not in the least 
remove the old mistakes, but on the contrary, strengthen them 
when the unconscious puts the moral life in chains. Psycho- 
analysis affords us further the certain proof that the infliction 
of punishment prevailing to-day and recommended by most 
text-books on pedagogy, causes much suffering because it does 
not know and take into account the true instinctive sources of 
action. The correct attitude of love and of need of mastery 

* Same, p. 302. 

t Ackermann, Art. "Strafe" in Reins Encykl. Handb. d. Padagogik, 
Vol. 6 (Langensalza 1899), p. 919. 



VALUE OF PUNISHMENT 559 

is that which rules the moral action and how can punishment 
guide that primitive force? 

Let us take, for example, a boy who suffers from a severe 
unconscious conflict with his father or one which is fed from 
the unconscious. He has to give an evil interpretation to the 
father's best-intentioned advice, the good object of which he 
immediately recognizes with everyone else. Or let us imagine 
a youth tormented by a complex of inferiority, what does he 
care about punishment ? Adler gives the following picture of 
the psychological condition of that kind of people : "To the 
feeling of inferiority, there correspond traits, like anxious- 
ness, doubt, uncertainty, bashfulness, cowardice and height- 
ened feelings of need of support and submissive obedience. 
Along with these characteristics are found phantasies, indeed 
even wishes, which one can classify together as ideas of small- 
ness and masochistic impulses. Above this texture of char- 
acter-traits, there are regularly — with view of rejecting and 
compensating — impudence, courage and rashness, tendency to 
insubordination, obstinacy and defiance, accompanied by phan- 
tasies and wishes for the role of hero, warrior, robber, in 
short, ideas of grandeur and sadistic impulses. " * " The 
whole instinctive life of the child becomes stimulated and over- 
intense, vengeful thoughts and death wishes against his own 
person, as against the surroundings upon the slightest provo- 
cation, childish errors and misdeeds are obstinately retained, 
and sexual precocity, sexual desire, breaks over the child-mind 
in order to be like the adults, of full value. The power which 
can do everything, which has everything — that is the father or 
one who represents him, the mother, an elder brother, the 
teacher. He becomes the opponent who must be fought, the 
child becomes blind and deaf to his guidance, misinterprets 
all good intentions, becomes mistrustful and extremely critical 
of all influences which come from the father, briefly, he has an 
attitude of defiance, but has directly thereby made himself 
dependent on the opinion of others." 

* Adler, Trotz u. Gehorsam. Monatsh. f. Pad. u. Schulpolitik, 1910, 
Part 9. 



560 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

Adler shows further that with such children, under external 
subjection, the ground of complete obedience is already un- 
dermined and the neurosis already in formation. I have shown 
sufficient examples of this. I might further tell of a model 
boy of fifteen who was under the obsession of interpolating in 
every prayer for the parents a ''not" which changed the 
blessing into a curse; I might also mention the "retarded 
obedience" which exists in severe emotional troubles (par- 
ticularly in the obsessional neurosis) when the youth executes 
by the help of a ruinous illness what the father and father- 
substitute has demanded of him. The patient with fetichism 
for clothes described on page 331, who can look at no woman 
at all without desiring her, is only one of dozens. 

What can the most just punishment, filled with the most 
beautiful lessons, accomplish in the countless individuals who 
succumb to neurotic obsession ? The defiance is only strength- 
ened, the incapacity for adaptation to the demands of life only 
increased. The explanations of the reasons for the punish- 
ment may be ever so plain, the youth remains under the sway 
of his conviction determined by his complexes: "Say what 
you will, deep down you intend to do me ill ! " Further, many 
victims of complexes have already said to themselves most 
which the educator says to them without this making any 
changes within them. Punishment will therefore only em- 
bitter them and strengthen the evil tendency. The sadistic 
tormentor of animals rejoices, as we saw, when he is chastised 
and is only strengthened in his cruel inclinations. 

Still more clearly does psychoanalysis reveal the folly of 
punishment for those who are led by it to an ardent desire for 
a new, pure life but who, as a result of inner attachment, 
cannot accomplish this. They struggle as we know from our 
observation of kleptomaniacs and complex-compelled pseudo- 
logians, perhaps with the exertion of all their power. But the 
more they persuade, pray, practice asceticism, so much the 
stronger are they compelled to do evil which they would not 
do, to speak with the Apostle Paul.* Punishment causes un- 

* Romans vii., 15. 



DANGERS OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT 561 

believable devastation there. Hate, self-contempt, melan- 
cholia result from such procedures and that which the educator 
carries out in consciousness of justice and love, the youth feels 
with perfect right as injustice. 

It is surprising ever anew how such complex-goaded mis- 
doers who have been driven by severity into ever-increasing 
mental distress and finally as true monsters have gained the 
neurotic 's victory over the father, can be brought to the right 
way by psychoanalysis. The pedagogy desired by us thereby 
avoids much aimless, yes, pernicious punishment and attains 
by the sunshine of enlightenment and love what would never 
have been possible to the assault of chastisement. How many 
a human life would have taken an entirely different direction 
if the educators had possessed analytic knowledge ! 

A word may also be said concerning the execution of punish- 
ment. We have shown repeatedly how the punishment of 
whipping is turned into trauma by awakening masochistic 
pleasure. "We also saw the spectators suffer harm. Accord- 
ing to the experience of myself and other analysts, one must 
reckon with a fairly high probability that there are such per- 
sons in every school class to whom the infliction or the sight 
of corporal punishment does injury. When one sees what a 
powerful educational instrument a pedagogue, free from bad 
complexes and possessing exact understanding of the pupils' 
minds, has, one will not find the demand that corporal punish- 
ment be entirely excluded from education, excessive. 

From the mental means of punishment, it is to be desired 
that they do not repressively maltreat the youth 's need for self- 
assertion. How often have I observed ''retarded obedience" 
which represented a cruel revenge on the parents, from the 
fact that the censure of inferiority had been accepted and built 
into an obsessional idea by the child ! It no longer helped then 
for the parents to take back their insult and explain: "We 
did not really mean it, you are a normal person ! ' ' The de- 
grading thought had been set free and was not now to be re- 
tracted without artificial aid. 



562 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

6. Sexual Education 

We owe to psychoanalysis the discovery of many injurious 
influences which had previously wrought their effect in the 
darkness of ignorance. In the first place, we saw deviations 
of the sexual instinct as enemies of life-happiness and a healthy 
moral religious development. 

The analytically enlightened pedagogy has to take far more 
earnest account of the sexual excitations of the child than has 
previously been the case. It forbids excessive fondling, of 
which ungratified husbands and wives are often guilty. It 
warns particularly against allowing children after the first 
year of life in the sleeping-room of the parents and is sus- 
picious of having growing youths in rooms separated from 
the parents' room by thin walls, for many hysterias and ob- 
sessional . neuroses, many developed CEdipus complexes un- 
doubtedly go back to overhearing the parents — aside from the 
actual conflict. Caresses between the parents in front of the 
children are often to be strictly forbidden. 

Supposing that the child could as yet have no incestuous 
wishes in the literal sense of the word, still, sexual excitements 
arise which can be continued through regression, to powerful 
life determinants and to actual pathogenic incestuous phan- 
tasies. 

Very much to be warned against is the injudicious treatment 
of bad sexual habits. The most dangerous in this regard is 
the threat of amputation of the genitalia. In many severe 
neuroses, we find a castration-complex. I have in mind not 
only people like the dementia prsecox patient mentioned on 
page 123, whom the castration threat led into anxiety for doves, 
legs of children and obsessional hiding of the nose, but also 
persons who, in masochistic desire, practice self-castration for 
a lifetime by demeaning themselves in general, falling into mis- 
fortune, yielding to impotence, becoming incompetent and 
giving up to a tendency to suicide. 

A rational treatment of masturbation must guard against the 
extremes of frivolity on the one hand and moral fanaticism on 



SEXUAL EDUCATION 563 

the other. The first of these errors has the following re- 
sults : 

1. The energies which in abstinence from suitable primary 
eroticism should be applied to the service of altruism, friend- 
ship, art, love of nature, science, religion and other sublima- 
tions, are uselessly wasted. 

2. The excessive onanist develops autoerotically, relatively 
shuts himself off from the surrounding world and becomes in- 
troverted. The isolation of self and the indifference of the 
extreme onanist toward other persons, does not arise usually 
from the fact that he has an improper secret to hide but from 
self -gratification and the failure of all erotic longing dependent 
on this. 

3. Freud emphasizes that the sexual behavior is the proto- 
type for all conduct in general. If the onanist becomes ac- 
customed to gaining pleasure by the cheap way of his habit, 
instead of attaining his goal by the difficult path of suitable 
courtship, he becomes an unmanly pleasure-seeker who in the 
rest of his life also avoids the serious tasks and remains a weak- 
willed, infantile person.* 

The other cardinal error consists in moral fanaticism which 
immeasurably exaggerates the injurious effects of masturbation 
and combats it with terrible threats. How many boys have 
been driven by that kind of generally dangerous writings into 
severe neurosis, indeed into suicide ! A pamphlet of Pastor N. 
Hauri, widely circulated in Switzerland, asserts for example : 
''When a young man secretly does all kinds of things whereby 
he stains his body, his health also suffers grievous injury. He 
becomes tired and sleepy, his mind is weakened, he loses all 
elasticity and power of will. Ever less can he resist the evil 
pleasure. Step by step his evil thoughts pursue him to ruin. 
He loses the joy of work. He becomes in appearance and 
behavior like an old man and finally any disease may get him 
which he would otherwise have easily withstood and carries 
him off in his early years. How many a young man has already 

* Freud, 2d Diskuss. der Wiener psa. Vereinigung. Wiesbaden 1912, 
p. 138. Hitschmann, Freuds Neurosenlehre, p. 18 f. 



564. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

sunk into an early grave in this way and others have become 
miserable and sickly or blue and melancholy. ' ' * 

He who has seen the misery of masturbators who in hot 
combat were unable to master their sexual instinct, shudders 
at the thought of the devastation which such awful prophecies 
must have caused. Hauri's utterances are all the more to be 
regretted since according to the testimony of every experienced 
educator and physician, the hints given by him do not by far 
suffice for most masturbators to find salvation from their dif- 
ficulty. Warning against evil thoughts, improper books, bad 
company, idleness, nocturnal revelry, intemperance, untrue 
assertions over the necessity for sexual activity, admonition to 
hardening and pious Christian conduct — more than these 
platitudes, Hauri does not know how to give! — ^help only a 
small part of those in need. The rest, who do not know how to 
help themselves against the enemy, Hauri treats with terrible 
threats which appear so much the more ugly and distorted 
since, according to the assurances of the best-informed physi- 
cians, over ninety per cent, of all youths have practised mas- 
turbation. We saw that very often a neurosis broke out when 
onanism was discontinued (76, 101, 409, etc.). And should 
we hurl ourselves with brutal threats upon the boys and girls ? 
A morally earnest educator should not yield himself to such 
doubtful services as are urged by Hauri out of igTiorance. 

The conscientious educator clings to the facts. Now it is to 
be admitted that the injuriousness of masturbation is not esti- 
mated alike by all. The modem psychiatrists and neurologists 
consider the physical effects of masturbation as fairly negli- 
gible. Ziehen thinks that at the most, excessive onanism may 
contribute in certain cases to the origin of psychoses, Asehaff- 
enburg is of the opinion that nervous disturbances either do 
not, or at least rarely, arise from onanism, t Further, the 

* N. Hauri, Eine Konfirmanden-Stunde iiber das 7. Gebot. 4. St. 
Gallen, 1910, p. 6. 

t Asehaffenburg, Die Beziehungen des sex. Lebens zur Entstehimg 
von Nerven- u. Geisteskrankheiten. Miinch. med, Wochenschr. 1906, 
No. 37. 



TREATMENT OF MASTURBATION 565 

opinions of psychoanalysts are divided. Stekel represents the 
view that onanism is entirely harmless.* He reports of a man 
of forty-one years who had practiced onanism for twenty-five 
years from once a day to six times a day and still remained 
healthy. Another man well along in the forties, masturbated 
daily and besides practiced normal coitus daily with extra- 
ordinary potency. Nevertheless, there are observations op- 
posed to these which we have mentioned. 

How shall we approach the evil ? Not with a universal re- 
ceipt, with uniform suggestions, to invoke heaven and hell. 
I admit that Hauri's prescription will banish the symptom in 
very mild cases. But there often arise along with this result, 
bad after-effects, unhealthy piousness, emotional troubles, etc. 

We should investigate each individual case. There is a 
large number of forms of masturbation. Often, it is joined to 
obsessional ideas, often, it forms a compensation for homo- 
sexuality, often, it is a symptom of shutting-off from humanity 
or from the female sex, often, the expression of a death-wish, 
etc. 

If it is a case of decided pathological compulsion, which is 
very often the case, all warning and threatening admonition 
only strengthens the trouble. All pedanalysts have observed 
that the obsession becomes just so much the stronger, the 
stronger the affects are which are directed to combatting it. 
According to the law of compensation, a greater value must be 
created for the person struggling against the habit, transfer- 
ence, friendship, hope of winning a pure, joy-bringing wife, 
close union with religious forces, etc. These compensations 
serve as diversion when, by appropriate and friendly advice, the 
counter-will against the evil habit blocks up the previously 
exercised instinctive function. Already, in the fact that one 
withdraws the overemphasis from the habit, does one strengthen 
the power for freedom. Hence it is not advisable to pledge 
the youth to give up his sin ; all the less is it advisable to de- 
mand peremptorily immediate total abstinence. 

Where a strong network of complexes exists, the prevention 

• Stekel, Eine Gegenkritik. Zbl. Ill, p. 250. 



566 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

of the peripheral action only causes exaggerated phantasies. 
And certainly the purely mental masturbation, with its in- 
tensive demands on the emotions, is at least as injurious for 
body and mind as the physical form, especially since it has not, 
like the latter, a momentary release. 

If the intensive onanism is thus, as is very often the case, 
a manifestation, I consider psychoanalysis as indispensable if 
the youth is to be freed. There also, I avoid the pedanalysis so 
long as I can get along with simpler methods. In all severe 
cases, however, this is not possible. In the analysis, one may 
attempt to get along with a symptomatic method. One may 
explore the accompanying phantasies according to their de- 
pendence on the past and their relation to the future. I gave 
an example on page 266. 

Another instance may be added : A sixteen-year-old candi- 
date for confirmation confided to me that he had suffered from 
melancholia for a year. His dreams betrayed that he wished 
his parents dead. Only after weeks, did he acknowledge daily 
masturbation which was preceded by the stereotyped idea that 
a boy, or more rarely, his sister, was spanked on the buttocks. 
The habit was of about two years' standing. About that 
length of time, he had suffered from attacks of blushing and 
pains in his abdomen. The onanism was performed by a climb- 
ing exercise in the gymnasium hour. Some weeks later, the 
youth, during the school recess, rubbed his thighs together 
under the desk in mastubatory manner when a boy beside him 
was beaten on the buttocks. The obsessing idea began at once. 

Naturally, the school experience revived earlier episodes. 
The earliest was an experience at play in the fourth or fifth 
year : In the hall of "his home, a wall had been marked with a 
pencil by an unknown person. The neighbor accused our 
patient 's sister of having done this. The latter, however, took 
the blame on himself, in no way, however, to save the sister. 
Since no other reason was apparent, I surmise that he yielded 
to a masochistic impulse. Soon, the false self-accusation dis- 
turbed him. The sister accused the brother but found no 



TREATMENT OF PERVERSIONS 567 

credence and received blows on the buttocks, whereupon the 
brother, as he clearly remembers, felt voluptuous pleasure, 
while he had witnessed other chastisement without sexual feel- 
ing ; further, a feeling of guilt set in. Previously, he had felt 
sexual excitement when he himself was spanked on the but- 
tocks. In later years, the sadistic emotion occurred only when 
one of his comrades was whipped because he had done him an 
injustice. 

Thus, the sadistic component was only stimulated to con- 
scious emotional expressions when hate was active. Hate in its 
turn plainly appeared in our case as repressed incestuous love. 
In it, lay also the instinctive force for obsession and masturba- 
tion. The pedanalytic influence easily succeeded. As pleas- 
ant compensation, there came besides the increased joy in life 
and work, a favorable relation to the sister in place of the 
previous condition of strife. 

Usually, one must employ a more elaborate analysis of re- 
sistances and seek to penetrate the mind without any kind of 
consideration for the special symptom. In such cases, mastur- 
bation is a subordinate trace of the mental trouble which causes, 
outside of this one symptom, a number of far more dangerous 
disturbances of the moral life. Thus we see the special prob- 
lem in its great connection to an ethical reorganization in 
general, and therewith withdraw from it the all too strong in- 
vestment of the mental life of our pupils. The sexual education 
can be properly carried on only in the framework of the com- 
plete education. 

The treatment of perversities must proceed analytically with 
the same gentleness. 

An important part of the pedagogic work discussed here 
consists in sexual enlightenment. It is recommended by many 
facts, opposed by nothing worthy of consideration. If the 
correct instruction is omitted, the following dangers are en- 
countered, to which we have seen many children succumb and 
from which we have seen many grievous injuries. 

1. If the child is not instructed from authoritative side, the 



568 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

street takes up the task, often in the dirtiest form.* That 
which should be the object of reverence is painted as ugly and 
subjected to obscene jests. Thus the sexual life becomes a 
priori something vulgar and on the parents falls a blemish 
which allows the mother to appear in dreams and neurotic 
acts (obsessional love for prostitutes, Don Juanism) as pros- 
titute, the father as libertine. Further effects are often and 
unconquerable disgust for sexuality, "frigidity," loss of love 
and many other neurotic pathological phenomena which are 
suited to ruin a human life. 

2. If the correct enlightenment is omitted, false childish 
phantasies appear in its place, often with sadistic impreg- 
nation- and birth-theories connected with perverse pro- 
cedures, the results of which appear later in disease and per- 
versity. 

3. The child whose thirst for knowledge is not gratified by 
the parents or is put off by symbolical stories, loses confidence 
in them.f 

4. His whole life becomes imbued with obsessional brood- 
ing t or inversely, he may lose the craving for knowledge. 

For giving the enlightenment, Freud gives the excellent 
advice: "It happens that the children never originate the 
idea that one would make for them a mystery out of the facts 
of the sexual life more than of anything else which is accessible 
to their understanding. And in order to attain this end, it is 
necessary that sexual matters should be treated from the be- 
ginning in the same manner as other subjects of knowledge. 
In particular, it is the task of the school not to omit to men- 
tion sexual affairs, to give the great facts of reproduction in in- 
struction concerning the animal kingdom in their proper sig- 
nificance and at the same time, to emphasize the fact that man 
shares all the essentials of his organization with the higher 

* Compare my presidental address as chairman of the Kantonalen 
ziirich. Pfarrergesellschaft (Verhandlungen d. asket. Ges. 1906, pp. 
33-43. 

t Jung, Konflikte der kindl. Seele. Jahrb. II, p. 39. 

t Freud, Zur sex. Aufklarung der Kinder. Kl. Schr. II, p. 156, 
Leonardo, p. 14, 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 569 

animals. ' ' * Freud adds : ' ' The curiosity of the child will 
never reach a high grade if it finds satisfaction corresponding 
to each stage of life. The enlightenment concerning the 
specific human relations of the sexual life and the reference to 
the social importance of the same should be added at the close 
of the instruction in the folk primary school and before the 
entrance into the intermediate school, thus not later than at the 
age of ten years. Finally the time of confirmation would be 
suited, as no other, to explain to the child already enlightened 
concerning all the physical matters, the moral obligations which 
are connected with the exercise of the instinct. Such a 
graduated, progressive enlightenment concerning the sexual 
life, actually interrupted at no time, for which the school 
assumes the initiative, seems to me the only one which takes 
account of the development of the child and hence, for- 
tunately, avoids the dangers at hand." t I might only add to 
what Freud has said that also from the beginning, the moral 
side of reproduction, the ethical bond between parents and 
child, can be emphasized and hence should be. 

7. The Moral and Religious Education 

Even though psychoanalysis as purely a method of explora- 
tion, as we have perceived, may be utilized in the service of any 
moral or immoral, religious or irreligious purpose, there is no 
doubt that it mightily assists a healthy moral and religious edu- 
cation. 

(a) the moral education 

The pedanalysis sets up as pedagogic ideal for us the per- 
sonality fully developed in its proper individuality, hence one^ 
that is also socially effective. The personality ideal in the sense 
of the demand for a human organization realizing the com- 
mands of its own nature, inwardly closed, emotionally rich, has 
kept constantly appearing before our eyes in the course of our 
investigation. We recognized how much morbid crippling 
proceeded from the pedagogic violence to the individual neces- 

• Kl. Schriften II, p. 157. f Same, p. 158. 



570 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

sities of life. No psychology and no pedagogy ever proved 
with such shocking facts the intensity and extent of the grave 
offence which is committed by the pedagogy of the press and 
pattern, the pedagogy of educational egoism and short- 
sightedness. 

We have demonstrated further that human happiness and 
human power are dependent in the first place on the relations 
to fellowmen, first of all to father and mother and their 
respective representatives, further upon the capability to sub- 
limate the primary claims of instinct in the highest fields of 
the moral life. In so doing, it was shown that the finding of an 
object of love belonged to the most important tasks of life, be- 
cause without this, an introversion sets in, which, when it 
progresses too far, withdraws the libido from all reality and 
drives it into unproductive phantasies, anxiety, pessimism 
hostile to life, distaste for life, indeed into severe neurosis and 
psychosis. The art of proper, morally superior, loving becomes 
thus the substance of the art of living. But in contrast to 
sensual indulgence and autistic sentimentality which only 
testify to internal incapacity for love, we recognized the pro- 
ductive love which masters reality with the maximal develop- 
ment of power and adapts itself to it, as the highest moral im- 
perative in which duty and capacity are united. Self-love 
without love for neighbors, the absolute egoism, we perceived 
to be a force hostile to self and destructive to self. Thus were 
we compelled to postulate the inwardness of the mind, but of 
the mind lighted with love for one's fellows, in the name of 
mental health. 

We were also forced to the perception that the measure of 
the realization of the ethical ideal is dependent on the peculiar- 
ity of each individual and that we should not wish to exact by 
external pressure the same perfection from all. 

The pedagogic ideal recommended by psychoanalysis is not 
new but new and impressive in its foundation. 

Further, the means of education of the psychoanalyst are in 
good part new. We too utilize the invitation, we desire an 
achievement corresponding to the individual strength. But we 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 571 

see that the education of to-day is guilty of an immense waste 
of energy. Most pupils are encumbered with deplorable re- 
pressions and fixations, the overcoming of which consumes a 
large part of the mental energy. To these carriers of ballast, 
belongs the army of neurotics as also the great part of healthy 
individuals. No one comes through life entirely free from such 
injurious burdens. Further, no one thinks of excluding from 
the world all complex-formation. Everyone must and should 
bear a certain amount of repression and fixation. Yet not too 
much ! Otherwise the energy disposable for execution of pro- 
ductive performances and for the bearing of unavoidable and 
healthy troubles of life will be reduced. Sensible, conscious 
control and guidance of instinct, in place of repression of in- 
stinct, is the formal analytic principle of the moral education. 
Only thereby do we guard against autistic squandering of 
libido and gain a strong, free, work-enjoying race. Only 
thereby do we bring about that state of mind, from which alone, 
the highest mental achievements proceed. 

(b) the religious education 

The pedanalysis shows us religion from the viewpoint of 
psychology and biology as well as from that of individual and 
social hygiene. 

In every religion, we find unquestionable sexual forces in- 
vested, in the Christian religion, sublimated sexuality. Yet 
we have already heard (312) how false it would be to con- 
sider the evangelic piety simply as sublimated sexuality. 
Much rather, the results of philosophical thought are derived 
from the thinking directed by the reality principle, as well as 
historical knowledge, ethical, esthetic and other functions not 
to be exhaustively interpreted from the pure libido-movement 
contained in it. That which sharply differentiates the Chris- 
tian religion from every other, is a peculiar diversion of the 
libido into three channels: love for God, love for fellowmen 
and love for self. Jesus enunciates as chief command — better, 
as principle of his teaching, the formula: "Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy neighbor as 



572 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

thyself." (Mat. xxii, 37-39; Mark xii, 30 f; Luke x, 27). 
From the standpoint of the pedanalysis, I consider this prin- 
ciple as positively perfect. Love is thereby recognized and 
encouraged, and indeed the maximal activity of love, while 
other religions, in part prohibit love (Buddhism), in part dis- 
regard it (Parusism), in part replace it v^^ith substitutes. 
Thus, with Jesus, introversion is happily avoided and the libido 
saved for reality, morality and culture. 

From the pedanalytic viewpoint, the self-love is of high value 
against suicidal tendencies (compare Saint Elizabeth) and 
masochistic pleasures. Such ones were ever much beloved: 
Macarius, in order to escape the temptation of fornication, 
placed himself entirely naked in a swamp and allowed himself 
to be tormented by mosquitoes until he looked like a leper and 
could be recognized only by his voice (Lucius: Die Anfange 
des Heiligenkults i. d. ehristl. Kirche, 363). "With the same 
intention, ** Ammonius tortured his body with a fiery iron until 
he was entirely covered with burns. Benedict of Nursia 
danced around in thorn hedges and Evagrius Ponticus allowed 
his flesh to freeze during a whole night spent in a fountain in 
the winter time. " (Same.) The pious Christine of St. Troud 
(1150-1224) laid herself in the hot oven, fastened herself on 
the wheel, had herself racked by the wheel and hung on the 
gallows beside the dangling corpse, buried herself in the grave, 
suffered from the obsession which is transparent in sexual sym- 
bolical sense (page 94) that she must climb roofs, trees and 
church towers, Margaretha of Ypern (1216-1237) after the 
cessation of her madness for men, could not bear the presence 
of a boy but was engaged to Jesus, Christine Ebner (1277- 
1356 ) cut a cross in the skin over the heart region and tore it off, 
wept weeks at a time over Jesus' suffering until her cheeks 
were sore, until, after two years of horrible self-torture, she 
fell into sensual visions, in which she felt herself embraced by 
Jesus and conceived a child by him. Mechtild of Magdeburg 
(about 1212-1277?), the gifted authoress, felt herself sick from 
passionate love for the Savior and advised all virgins to follow 
the most charming of all, the eighteen-year-old Jesus, that he 



SENSUALITY AND MYSTICISM 573 

might embrace them; on the other side, however, she became 
gloomy on account of a harmless laughing or a levity of that 
kind betrayed to no one, so that the unhappy nun begged 
piteously and grieved until she again crept into the kitchen 
"like a whipped dog." (The last four examples are from 
"Meehtild von Magdeburg, Das fliessende Lieht der Gottheit" 
with the admirable introduction by Mela Escherich, Berlin, 
1909.) Heilborn says of the old German mystics: ''From 
antiquity, even with the pious old German theosophists, all pre- 
sentiments, all self-destructive, lustful, death- and heaven- 
seeking was overgrown with the over-excitement of sensuality 
and sensual phantasy excesses. Sensuality and mysticism live 
in and by one another. ' ' * 

"Who can mistake in these asceticisms which form not by far 
the most ugly effects of miscarried sexual repressions within the 
Catholic piety, the victory of masochistic instincts, the intoxi- 
cating, voluptuous pleasure from maltreatment of one's own 
person? Nietzsche rightly names certain forms of asceticism 
* ' a holy form of debauchery. ' ' t 

True Christianity, as living one 's life in the highest sense of 
the word, in contrast to this, is expressed in the words in John 
xiv, 19 : "I live, ye shall live also. ' ' 

Love for one 's neighbors as a main stream for the libido, we 
saw recommended likewise by the analysis. If the libido is 
not so guided, there arises at best an elevation of the sexual in- 
stinct yet no true sublimation. Many a time, the dammed-up 
libido has broken out in religion as active cruelty. What per- 
son who knows even a little of the psychology of the sexual life, 
will deny that the Spanish Inquisitor, Petrus Arbues, canon- 
ized in 1867, and the whole great army of similar pious 
monsters, fell into the snares of sadism and in deluded zeal for 
God, performed only the work of the flesh, of ill-treated 
sexuality? The history of the Catholic sainthood affords the 
analytic pathography an inexhaustible material which sub- 
stantiates the interesting statement of the experienced Pried- 

* E. Heilborn, Novalis, der Romantiker, Berlin, 1901. 

f Nietzsche, Z. Genealogie d. Moral, 3rd Part, Paragrapii 1. 



674? THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

rich von Hardenberg (Novalis) : "It is strange that the 
association of voluptuous pleasure, religion and cruelty has not 
long ago brought to the attention of men the intimate relation- 
ship and common tendency of these. ' ' * Psychologically con- 
sidered, this assertion is absolutely correct. In the religion of 
the Israelites, we see the sexual debauchery proceed to the 
temple. The preprophetie religion of Baal allowed father and 
son to go to the slaves of the temple. The great prophets, as 
Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah and Jeremiah on the contrary, 
favored a transformation of the libido into social activity and 
thus created the first important social religion in which divine 
pleasure was made dependent on the preservation of social- 
ethical sentiment. Jesus also voiced this utilization of the 
libido, but still more decidedly, in that he even preached love 
for enemies, while Islam with its polygamy, slavery and sensual 
hope of heaven, clung to a mere elevation of the sexual in- 
stinct. Jesus, by his advocacy of a serving love and preaching 
God 's kingdom on the earth, kept religion free from the danger 
of depreciating the present time by displacing the center of 
attention into the future. 

The love of God is recognized not less by the analyst as a 
healthful demand. The believer flees to the domain of the 
ideal, to the heart of the eternal love, when life disappoints him 
and fellowmen treat him contemptuously and unjustly. In the 
divine father-love, he, whose longing for help, for ethical salva- 
tion is not satisfied by the surrounding reality, finds an asylum. 
In the love for the Savior, the love-thirsty soul, which finds no 
comprehension and no return love in his fellowmen, is re- 
freshed. The titanic drama of the work of salvation with its 
immense contrasts, sin — grace, human depravity — Jesus' con- 
quering love, death — life, affords guilt-laden souls a source of 
consolation, the sustaining force of which, the irreligious in- 
dividual can scarcely appreciate. Further, the educated per- 
son with deeper thinking and feeling, who bears a mighty de- 
sire for the reality of the ideal, will again and again long for 

*Heilborn, Novalis, p. 161. 



FATHER- AND MOTHER-COMPLEXES 575 

God as the substance and real basis of the ideal and submerge 
himself in Him when men and nature (in broadest sense) leave 
him in want. 

But if the love for God is not to lead to fanatical excess of 
passion of plain sexual character, it must be accompanied, as 
happened in the teachings of Jesus, by love for men and self. 
Otherwise, it will develop into that system of religious orgies 
which Margaretha Ebner, Zinzendorf and hundreds of other 
Christian saints portray. Jesus enunciated a^ strongly as pos- 
sible the love for neighbors as the presupposition of all true love 
for God : an act of brotherly love, the reconciliation, is for him 
more important than the cultistie performance of the sacrifice 
(Mat. V, 23, 24). 

Of supreme importance, then, is the elaboration of the rela- 
tion to the father by Jesus. With wonderful acuity, he solved 
the attachment by sublimating it. "We have mentioned some 
of the places in which Jesus urged the separation from the 
father as he personally emancipated himself from the mother. 
The postulate of sublimation is in Matthew xxiii, 9 : ' ' Thou 
shalt call no one on earth, father, for one is thy father who is 
in heaven." Thereby, Jesus has relieved the harmful fixa- 
tion and broken the bonds of free personal development.* He 
has, however, also taken into account the need for paternal pro- 
tection and reciprocal love. 

The need for the mother is given less consideration. Jesus 
loved his real mother so much that for him a heavenly substitute 
was superfluous. The Catholics invested Mary and the 
Church, the Protestants likewise the Church or the Holy Ghost, 
with mother-attributes. 

In Jesus, we find still other thoughts highly important for 
the pedanalyst. He unburdened the oppressed soul. By abre- 
action and forgiving of sins, he prepared the healing of neurotic 
infirmities from within out. Even the belief that those 

* Hebbel relates very prettily in his "Aufzeiehnungen aus meinem 
Leben" (cbap. 5) bow religion helped him to cut the mental navel- 
string which had previously bound him exclusively to the parents. 
(Stuttgart and Leipzig, p. 582.) 



676 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

maladies proceed from spirits, draws our sympathy as psycho- 
logical adaptation, only metaphysically it is false. 

Further, Jesus has recognized the tranference with great 
keenness. Hence he allows himself to love boundlessly. Mat. 
xi, 28 : ' * Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest. ' ' Mat. x, 37 : * ' He that loveth father 
or mother more than me is not worthy of me. ' ' Still he does 
not bind the believers to himself but points them to the 
Heavenly Father, to the highest religious and moral autonomy 
of the child of God. 

And besides the past and present (abreaetion and trans- 
ference), Jesus takes the future into consideration, instructing 
in a powerful conception of it. 

It is, therefore, not at all absurd for one to find the funda- 
mental characteristics of the pedanalysis marked out by Jesus. 
Also from other sides, we can consider him as crown witness 
for the correctness of our theory : He sets free the love ban- 
ished by the rule of law from the Hebrew religion of his time 
and guides it to the center of piety. Now, orthodoxy and cere- 
monialism also cease. The prophets with their social preaching 
kept the libido in the reality. After the Babylonian exile, 
national necessity caused enormous repressions. The austere 
God was feared. The dammed-up libido fled, exactly as in the 
obsessional neurotic individual, into intellectual achievements 
and acts difficult of execution,* even into orthodoxj^ and cere- 
monialism. Exactly as Freud heals the obsessional neurotic 
individual by winning back the love and affording it appro- 
priate realization, so does Jesus. He taught to love and 
thereby destroyed the religious obsessional neurosis. 

A great deal more might be said concerning the relations be- 
tween Jesus' gospel and psychoanalysis. It is enough that we 
find in him the piety of the healthiest and most profound 
thinker of men, while Paul and the writings of John represent 
the piety of the neurotic. Hence even to-day many neurotic 
individuals are actually most drawn to the latter (neurotics 

* Freud, Zwangshandlungen u. Keligionsiibung. Kl. Scxir. II, pp. 
122-131. 



RELIGION AND NEUROSIS 577 

seek one another), while people who are freer from complexes 
are ordinarily far more attracted by the synoptic piety. 

Catholicism renewed the repressions and created a new obses- 
sional neurosis. Dogma and sacrament were its symptoms. 
Thereby, a grandiose symbolism developed, the regressive char- 
acter of which is easily perceived. In the Catholic Eucharist, 
the eating of God meets us as in the eating of the totem animal, 
the drinking of blood in the Attis mysteries, etc. The life-ideal 
realized in monks and expressed in the three vows of poverty, 
obedience and chastity contains the three strongest repressions 
and renunciations: the renunciation of wealth, self -independ- 
ence and family. Therewith, the strongest instincts of sex and 
ego are gagged. For the libido, there is left only the flight 
into the future life if it is to escape introversion. The father is, 
in the persons of the Pope and of the spiritual superiors, en- 
throned in his authority and exercises this authority more 
strictly than any other kind of father. The three-in-one God 
loses the personal character and therewith the love-giving 
power. The obsessional neurosis was unavoidable since love 
was again in great part excluded. 

The Reformation wrought a change for a short time but 
more in the spirit of Paul than in that of Jesus. Love was 
soon banished again and a Protestant orthodoxy and exaggera- 
tion of ceremony set in. As soon as love again succeeded 
pietism as the nucleus of the Christian life, the fear of the 
letter of the Bible, ordinance of the church and ceremony 
weakened. 

Thus the Freudian theory shines brilliantly in the mirror 
of religious history. Concerning this phenomenon, the future 
will have much more to say. We are still far from understand- 
ing thoroughly the infinitely rich symbolism of Christian ideas 
and customs. But we know that thanks to Freud's investiga- 
tion, we are in possession of the key which by hard and earnest 
work will open the door to these secret chambers. 

We already understand why this individual must, as the 
result of his complexes, join one sect, that individual, another 
sect, and each find boundless satisfaction in his choice. We 



578 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

know when people are led by psychological necessity to the 
Catholic Church, when to the Salvation Army, when to the 
Mormons, when to the Adventists and feel contented there. 
We understand also the private religions and rites of the in- 
dividuals analyzed by us. "We can say why that neurotic 
pastor's wife prays to the wind, that youth to the fire, that 
old man to the phallus, secretly as the highest Godhead. We 
understand therefore also the relative necessity and healthful- 
ness of sects and abstruse private religions and know that they 
are not a danger to the churches spiritualized by the Gospel, 
even though many disposed individuals can certainly be led 
astray by them to life-impoverishing narrowing of the horizon, 
neurotic autisticism and moral poverty. 

That false religious education in the first years of life, or 
even later, can inflict grievous injury, should by no means be 
denied. The pedanalysis warns especially against the follow- 
ing dangers : 

Religion cannot be shown merely as dry theory, but should 
be shown as an experience. It should ''embrace the whole 
inner man so that we make him fresher, fuller of life, more joy- 
ful and morally stronger by our religious instruction." It 
should ' ' encourage the satisfaction which leads to noblest deeds, 
the heroic pride." The teacher of religion should help the 
pupils to win a personal view of life in free investigation. He 
should also strengthen by historical instruction the longing 
for the future and the determination to fight for it.* He 
should create the living contact with the creative force which 
discloses its nature in the ideal and sets the development to 
the realization of the ideal. God should appear in trusted re- 
lation to the youth as loving father, friend, protector, giver of 
moral, liberating commands and forgiveness. Such religion 
will turn the libido to the individual and common good, help 
to prevent the neurosis and psychosis, surround life with a 
halo and attain a high degree of strength for the real duties 
of life. 

* Compare my article : Eeligionspadag. Neuland. Eine Unters. ii. 
d. Erlebnis- und Arbeitsprinzip. Zurich, 1909, p. 6. 



VALUE OF CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS 579 

To be warned against, is a piety which deadens the intel- 
lectual curiosity. This happens when one kills questions by 
the compulsion of dogmatic tradition or does away with the 
particular explanation of empirical phenomena with the 
phrase: ''This has God created." Hoffding rightly says: 
"Religion has had great significance for the development of 
science and will be able to have still more by accentuating the 
great borderline problems and fixing the conviction that there 
is a center and that it should be the highest ideal task of think- 
ing to find the same. " * As natural science can determine in a 
painting of Bocklin's the elasticity and composition of the 
colors, the botanical variety of the wood or canvas on which it 
is painted, the chemical composition of the pigments, but must 
be supplemented by an esthetic method of consideration which 
takes into account the meaning of the picture, so also is the 
nature investigation to be perfected by a consideration of the 
value of the laws of the ethical development and evolutionary 
tendency. Only the religious point of view embraces the com- 
prehensive world picture. 

Therein the religious instruction must guard against abstract 
rationalization. Psychoanalysis shows us the indispensability 
of the symbol. In the old symbols of the Christian religion, 
there lurks far more noble content than the theory of faith, so 
miserably established psychologically, will allow us to believe^ 
Hence, many deep and free religious minds find far more spirit 
and life in the picture-language of the Bible than in the aqua 
destillata of critically purified dogmatic formula. 

But the symbol must be recognized as symbol. Psycho- 
analysis has clearly shown us anew the right of absolutely free 
investigation. What is to be hoped for, is a theory of faith 
which understands how to grasp clearly and sharply the connec- 
tion between the religious idea and the unconscious. To this 
end, tedious, deep investigations of living piety and a compre- 
hensive view of life will be necessary. 

We have already transgressed the bounds of the psycho- 
analysis given us by Freud which everywhere discloses impos- 

* Hoffding, Eeligionsphilosophie, p. 24. 



580 THE PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD 

ing problems in psychology, ethics, esthetics, metaphysics, even 
though the solution of these problems presupposes still other 
methods besides itself. My task consisted only in showing the 
pedagogue what wonderful new paths were open to him if he 
knew how to use the pedanalysis. Investigating, healing and 
protecting, the proper professional educator will garner a rich 
harvest as soon as he has enriched his armamentarium with the 
new educational method and understands how to apply it with 
skill. To-day, the need of many pupils is immeasurable and 
the danger threatening them allows a stormy future to be pre- 
dicted for them. On the other hand, an enormous amount of 
pedagogic talent and intelligence lies fallow. May there not be 
lacking among the pedagogues those whose conscience will drive 
them in pursuit of an adjustment and who will put themselves 
as analysts in the service of investigation as well as ©f helping 
love ! The field is white for the harvest. 



INDEX 



Abreaction, 446 

Necessity for, 447 

Goethe and, 451 

Process of, 451 

and Unconscious, 454 
Abulia, 538 
Adler, Alfred, 406 

Theory of Organic Inferiority, 
172 

Pfister'a Criticism of, 139 

Theories of Character, 407 
Age of Subject of Psychoanalysis, 

519 
Aim of Psychoanalysis, 489 
Alcoholism as Neurotic Compul- 
sion, 317 
Ambivalence (Bleuler), 161 
Ambivalent Instinctive Tenden- 
cies, 163 
Ammonius, 572 
Amnesia, 220 
Analeroticism, 201 
Analysis, Procedure in, 429 

of Healthy Individuals, 529 
Anarchists and Father-Complex, 

540 
Anesthesia, Hysterical, 176 
Angel-Makers, 37 
Angouleme, Duchess of. Dream, 359 
Antipathy for People, 80, 196 
Anxiety and Sexuality, 82 

and Sexual Inhibition, 70 

Origin of, 212 
Apis Bull, 276 
Arrow Symbol, 354 
Art and the Unconscious, 388 

Analysis of Underlying Mo- 
tives, 388 
Asceticism in Education, 554 
Aschaffenburg, Treatment of Sex- 
ual Complex, 527 



581 



Associations, Accidental, 345 
External and Internal, 183 
Free, 343 

Association Experiment, 181 

Asthenia, 181 

Asthma, 68 

Authority and Freedom, 554 

Autistic Thinking, 303 
a Burden, 310 

Autoanalysis, 522 

Autoeroticism, 155 

Aversion to Work, 78 

Bashfulness, Pathological, 266 

Bathing Phobia, 72 

Bed-Wetting, 422 

Berner Seminarildtter, 13 

Binet, 4 

Bjornson, Dream in "Arne," 353 

Bleuler, E., U 

on Alcoholism, 317 

on Autistic Thinking, 303 

Blushing, Pathological, 184 

Brother-Sister Complex, 386 

Brothers and Sisters, Relations 
between, 550 

Breuer, Josef, 2, 6 
His Famous Patient, 4 

Buddhism and Christianity, 443 

Cartesius, 21, 43 
Castration-Complex, 123 
Catholic Confessional, 453 
Catholic Sainthood, 573 
Catholicism and Neurosis, 577 
Cathartic Method, 6, 141 
Censor, 168 
Change of Communion conditioned 

on Complexes, 410 
Character in Psychoanalysis, 515 
Charcot, J. M., 2 



58^ 



INDEX 



Child, Early Training, 546 

Effect of too much Affection, 546 

Effect of too little Affection, 546 

Necessity for Pi'eparation for 

Separation from Parents, 549 

Childhood, Importance of Early 
Impressions, 113 

Chorea, 185 

Christianity, true, 573 

Christian Religion and Sexuality, 
571 

Christian Science, 490 

Christine Ebner, 572 

Christine of St. Troud, 572 

Clucking Symptom, 34 

Cockroaches, Phobia for, 103 

Compensation, 457 

Complex, Concept of, 151 
Indicators, 335 
Necessity for Psychoanalyst to 

be free from, 516 
Molding and Remolding of, 460 
Remolding, Law of, 463 

Composite Formation, 245 

Conclusion of Psychoanalysis, 
510 

Condensation, 244 

Conflict, Mental, Outcomes of, 448 

Consciousness, Definitions of, 22-25 

Constitution, Valuation of, 170 

Conversion, Hysterical, 174 

Convulsive Laughter, 181 

Convulsions, Analysis of, 190 

Cough, Hysterical, 179 

Counsel and Command in Psycho- 
analysis, 505 

Cover-Memories, 224 

Cramp in Thigh, 126 

Crank, Mental, 540 

Crown of Thorns, 36 

Cracking of Jaw, Hysterical Symp- 
tom, 271 

Cruelty to Animals, 77 

Cryptography, 371 

Cryptolalia, 368 

Daniel, Interpretation of Dreams, 

351 
Davidson, 14 



Day-Dreams, 366 
Deafness, Hysterical, 96 
Death-Wish 'in Dream, 267, 362 
Deception by Subject of Psycho- 
analysis, 45 
Degeneration and Hysteria, 48 
D6ja Vu, 228 
Delboeui, 4 
Dementia, Praecox, Symbolized in 

Picture, 399 
Devil, Hallucination of, 38 
Dislocation, 444 
Disjection, 254 
Dispositions and Moods, 328 
Don Juanism, 126, 329, 546 
Dream, Estimation of, 349 

Via Regia to Unconscious, 349 

In Bible, 350 

Poet's Estimation of, 351 

Direct Speech in, 363 

Distortion after Waking, 363 

Logic of, 364 

Death- Wishes in, 362 

Persistence of Belief in Reality 
of Content of, 363 

Physical Stimuli as Instigators 
of, 361 

Wishfulfillment in, 368, 416 
Dreams of Balloon Journey, 296 

of Duchess of Angouleme, 359 

of Furniture Vans, 355 

of Negroes, 356 

of Persecution, 366 

of Railroad Station, 358 
Dream Analysis, 430 

Detailed Description of, 432 
Dream Interpretation, 361 

When Possible, 361 

In Practice, 501 
Dream-Work, 355 
Dubois, Paul, 439 

Criticism of his Method, 440 

and Freud, Comparison of 
Methods, 443 
Duration of Psychoanalytic Treat- 
ment, 507 
Diirr, E., 22, 544 

Edema, Hysterical, 177 



INDEX 



583 



Education, Moral, 569 

Religious, 571 

Sexual, 562 

and liierapy, Eeciprocal Rela- 
tion of, vi 
Egmont's Dream, 353 
Ego Instincts, 140 
Egoists and Altruists, 256 
Einfiihlung, 262 
Ekkehard, 34 
Emotion, Dynamics of, 206 

Loss of, 193 

Psychology of, 51 

Repressed, 198 
Erythromania, 184 
Ethical Imperative as Defence 

Process, 404 
Examination-Anxiety, 538 
Exteriorization, 264 
Eye as Erogenous Organ, 160 



Falsification of Memory, 432 
Fanatics, 540 

Fanaticism as Reaction Forma- 
tion, 321 
Moral Effects of on Boys, 563 
Father-Image, 147 
Fehlhandlungen, 383 
Ferenezi, Early Antagonism to 
Freud, 64 
on Alcoholism, 318 
on Neurotic Identification, 264 
Fetichism, Clothes, 331 
Folk Superstition and Symbol- 
ism, 277 
Foreconscious, 47, 150 
Forgetting, Analysis of, 222 
Fortmtiller, Karl, "Psychoanalyse 

und Ethik," 404 
Franz J., Case of, 388 
Frei, Jakob, 387 
Freud, Early Publications, 2 
Analysis of Leonardo da Vinci, 

407 
Estimation of Infantile Impres- 
sion, 113 
Formulations compared with 
Jung's, 107-108 



Freud, 
Sexual Theory, 60, Criticism of, 

64 
Work with Breuer, 6 
Writings, 9-11 
on Alcoholism, 317 
on Hysterical Indentification, 272 
on Parent-Complex, 239 
on Wishfulfillment in Dream, 

416 
Summarizes Psychology of Art- 
ist, 388 
Two Principles of Psychic Ac- 
tivity, 302 
Freud's Psychoanalysis compared 
with Dubois' Suggestion Meth- 
od, 443 
Freudian Theory and Religious 

History, 577 
Fixation upon Parents, 197 
Fiirst, Emma, Investigations of 
Reaction-Types, 342 

Gestures, Obsessional, 538 
Glossolalia, Religious, 231 
Goethe, Heroes of, 401 
Graf, Max, Monograph on Richard 

Wagner, 120 
Grillparzer, 120 

Complexes of, 401 

Poem "Der Bann," 308 
Guilt, Consciousness of, 101, 213 

Haberlin, P., 13 

Hall, G. Stanley, ix, 14 

Hallucination, Analysis of, 37-39 

During Analysis, 467 

of God, 247 
Hamlet, Analysis of, 402 
Handwriting, Analysis of, 377 
Happiness and Proper Invest- 
ment of Libido, 557 
Harlequin, An Unhappy Person, 

322 
Hate, 332 

Repressed, 198 

and Reconciliation, 462 
Hauri, Pastor N., Bad Treatment 
of Masturbation, 563 



584 



INDEX 



Hebbel, Friedrich, Estimation of 
Childhood Impressions, 115 
Unconscious in Poetic Produc- 
tion, 403 
on Dreams, 352 

Quotation from "Genoveva," 239 
Heilborn, E., on German Mystics, 

573 
Heine, Example of Condensation, 

250 
"Heperos," Quotation from, 116 
Heterosexuality, 161 
Hoch, August, 14 
Hoflfding, 29 
Homosexuality, 161, 202 
Housework, Distaste for, 214 
Hypermnesia, 229 
Hypnosis, 437 

Hypnoid Hallucinations, 241 
Hypnotic Treatment, v 
Hysteria, Symptomatology, 174 
Symptoms with Organic Basis, 

180 
Symptoms Misunderstood, 492 

Ibsen, 386 

Identification and Projection, 260 
in Hallucination, 40 
with Mother, 295 

Imago, 12 

Impotence, Psychic, 124 

Incestuous Wishes in Symbols, 301 

Infantile Experiences, After-ef- 
fects of, 269 

Infantile Impressions, 114, 118 
Content of, 120 

Infantilism and Neurosis, 244 

Instinct, Inhibition of, 192 
Transposition of, 216 

Intellectual Development influ- 
enced by Complexes, 139 

Intellectualistic Theories, 49 

International Zeitschrift fiir arzt- 
liche Psychoanalyse, 12 

Interpretation of Dreams in Prac- 
tice, 501 

Interpretation of Symbols, 282 

Introversions, Mild, 539 

Introverted Individual, 557 



Ishtar, 276 

Itching, 34 

Jahrbuch fiir Psychoanalyse, 11 

Janet, Pierre, Study of Hysteria, 2 

Case of Marie, 3 
Jelliffe, Smith Ely, 12, 14 
Jesus, Represents Healthy Piety, 
576 

Value of Teaching for Educa- 
tor, 575 

Estimation of Love, 574 

and Nicodemus, Jung's Interpre- 
tation, 299 
Johner, Th., 13 
Jones, Ernest, 14 

Analysis of Hamlet, 402 
Jung, C. G., 11 

on Father-Complex, 387 

on Infantile Tendencies, 121 

on Eeligion, 473 

Theory of Symbolism criticised, 
300 

Theory of Mental Conflict caus- 
ing Neurosis, 107 
Jimg-Stilling and Hysteria, 452 

Kekule, Derivation of Benzol For- 
mula, 240 
Keller, Adolf, 13 
"Klein Eyolf," 386 
Kleptomania, 76 

Kj'onfeld, Arthur, Criticism of 
Psychoanalysis, 18 
Refutation, 44 
Criticism of Freud, 210 

Lassitude, 181 

Laughing, Obsessional, 83, 538 
Leonardo da Vinci, Freud's Mono- 
graph on 118, 407 
Libido, Definition, 155 

Concept of, 166 

Symbol, 293 
Life-Force, 167 
Life Problems and Psychoanalysis, 

477 
Lindner of Budapest, 155 
Lipps, Th., 21, 29 
Lord's Supper, 276 



INDEX 



585 



Loss of Affection, Analysis of, 295 
Loss of Love, 94, 111 
Lotus Flower as Symbol, 276 
Love, 329 

for God and for Man, 574 

Incapacity for, 330 

Loss of, 194, 197 

and Sexuality, 80 
Love-Death, foot-note, 354 
Liithi, Adolf, 13 



Macarius, 572 

Madonna, Hysterical Adoration of, 

136 
Maeder, Alfons, Dream Theory, 
425 

Exteriorization, 264 

Education of Children, 557 
Maeder, Alfons and Otto Mensen- 
dieck on Influence of Com- 
plexes, 539 

on Intellectual Performances, 
539 
Manifestation, Definition of, 173 

as Attempt at Healing, 425 

Biological Meaning of, 424 

Content of, 258 

Meaning of, 416 

in Conduct of Life, 385 

Pleasure and Pain in, 420 

Sexual Basis of, 423 
Manifestation-Acts, 376 
Marcinowsky on Sadism, 162 
Margaretha Ebner, 270, 420 
Margaretha of Ypern, 572 
Marie, Janet's Hysterical Patient, 

3 
Masochism, 132, 156 
Masturbation, 155 

Conditioned on Complexes, 566 

Treatment of, 563-565 
Materialism, 387 
Messmer, O., 13, 544 
Meumann, E., 13 
1 Theories of Volition, 49, 50 
Meyer, Adolf, 14 
Meyer, K. F., 402 
Mechtild of Magdeburg, 572 



Medical Conditions not to be An- 
alyzed by Pedagogues, 522 

Melancholia, 98, 126 
in Pupils, 539 

Melody, Obsessing, 345 

Mental Abnormalities and Educa- 
tor, vii 

Migraine as Hysterical Symptom, 
207 
in Temples, 35 

Mistakes in Speech, 383 

Mobius, 191 

Moral Defectives, Care in Analyz- 
ing, 553 

Moral Educational Problems, 
405 

Moral Manifestations, 405 

Moral Qualities in Analytic Sub- 
ject, 520 

Moriehau-Beauehant, E., 14 

Mother as Libido-Symbol, 299 

Myth, Religious, 414 

as Wish-Phantasy of Nation, 243 

Napoleon, Unconscious Identifica- 
tion with, 263 

Nature-Cure as Rationalization, 
208 

Neurosis, Origin of, 104 

Neurosis and Infantilism, 244 
Traumatic, 86 

Nietzsche, on Cruelty, 319 

Noli Me Tangere, 74 

Nuclear Complex of Neurosis, 162 

Numbers, Associations of, 346 

Obsessing Word, 41 
Obsessions, Sexual Basis of, 74 

in Children, 538 

for Number, 13, 70 
Obsessional Love, 83 

Masturbation, 268 

Washing, 68 
CEdipus Complex, 161 

Female, 322, 269 

Hypothesis, Criticism of, 165 

Situation, 299 

Wish, 163 
Offner, Max, 27 



586 



INDEX 



Onanism and Consciousness of 
Guilt, 102 
Eflfects of, 563 
Order in the Psychoanalysis, 504 
Overdetermination of Symptoms, 
143 

Paralysis, Hysterical, 86 
Pseudo, 132 

Parent-Complex, 239 

Parents, Effect on Child of Bad 
Relations between, 548 
Relation to Child, 545 

Paresthesia, 184 

Passion for Destruction, 77 

Paul, Apostle, 462 

Represents Piety of Neurotic, 
576 

Pavor Nocturnus, 87 

Pedanalysis, how Learned, 524 
Domain of, 529, 532 
Rights of, 531 

Pedagogy, Benefits from Psycho- 
analysis, 544 

Pedagogue, Advised to work with 
Physician, 493 

Perversions, 200 

Pessimism, 387 

Pfister, "Analytic Investigations 
of Psychology of Hate and 
Reconciliation," 460 

Phantasy and Symptoms, 147 
Waking, 366 

Philosophy and the Unconscious, 
387 

Phobias, 68 
of Beetles, 212 
of Pigeons, 123 

Physicians, Co-operation with Ed- 
ucator, 527 

Physical Defects helped by Psycho- 
analysis, 537 

Physical Reactions during Dream 
Analysis, 431 

Piety, Need for Liberal, 579 

Plan of Life, Conditioned by Com- 
plexes, 405 

Pleasure Principle of Thinking, 
302 



Pleasure-Sucking, 155 

Poet and his Heroes, 401 

Poetry and Symbolism, 275 
and Unconscious, 400 

Polarization of Eroticism, 330 

Postage-Stamp Collecting as Symp- 
tom, 207 

Prescott, P. C, 14 

Pressure, Points of, on Head, 36 

Projection, 272 

Psychic Disturbances in Pupils, 
537 

Psychoanalysis, Origin of, v 
Application of in Pedagogy, 15 
Bad Results in, 541 
Critics and, 17 
Conclusion of, 510 
Changes in, 15, 16 
Definition of, 1, 20 
Essential Features of, 8 
External Aids in, 436 
Fundamental Rule of, 429 
How Learned, 524 
in Medical Education, vii 
Results of, 535 
Technique of, 427 
Threefold Direction of, 488 
and Attitude toward Life, 478 
and Moral Delinquents, 541 
and Religion, 408, 412, 414 

Psyehoanalvst, Requirements for, 
514 

Psychoanalytic Cure, Permanency 
of, 542 

Psychoanalytic Probing, Effects 
of, 446 

Psychoanalytic Review, 12 

Psychoanalytic Treatment, Course 
of, 490 
Choice of Subject in, 500 
Prerequisites of, 513, 518 

Psychology, Various Concepts of, 
49 

Psychopathology of Everyday Life, 
Freud's, 9 

Psychotherapy, Dubois', 439 

Public Morality and the Individ- 
ual, 104 

Putnam, James J., 14, 507 



INDEX 



687 



Punishment in Education, Discus- 
sion of, 558 
Wrongly Appiied, 186 
Puritanism, 322 

Eank, Otto, Inzest-Motiv, 402 
Eationalization, 324 
Reaction-Formation, 319 

Two Kinds of, 324 
Reality Principle of Thinking, 302 
Reformation, The, 577 
Regression, 230 

Atavistic, 243 

Biological Significance of, 242 

in Poetry, 238 

to Infantile in Dream, 360 

to Infantile Acts, 239, 240 
Reitler, Criticism of Freud, 161 
Relatives, Analysis of, 522 
Religion and Instinct, 449 

and Obsessions, 408 

and Psychoanalysis, 408, 412, 414 

of Baal, 574 

of Israelites, 574 

not Theory but Experience, 578 
Religious Conversion as Reaction- 
Formation, 462 
Religious Manifestations, 408 

Symbolism, 276 
Reminiscences, Analysis of, 258 
Representation by Opposite, 320 
Repression, Definition of, 55 
Repression, Herbart's Theory of, 55 

Analytic Search for Motives of, 
149 

Degree of, 148 

External and Internal Factors 
in, 108 

General Conditions of, 154 

Phantastic, 146 

Traumatic, 141 

and Reality, 91 
Repression Process, 141 
Resistance, 168 

Overcoming of in Practice, 496 
Retention and Repulsion, 152 
Reversion, same as Regression, 241 
Riklin, on Collaboration of Peda- 
gogues in Psychoanalysis, 533 



Robitsek, Alfred, 240 

Rousseau, Seeks Motive for Act, 

382 

Sadger, Monograph on K. F. 
Meyer, 117 

on Kleist and Lenau, 120 
Sadism, 156 

as Hate, 162 
St. Vitus' Dance, Simulated, 178 
Schleiermacher, Vision of, 39 
Schriften zur angewandten Seelen- 

kimde, 12 
Schrotter, Artificial Dreams, 362 
Schaulust, 156 

Schiller and Father-Complex, 401 
Self-Torturer, 540 
Sensations, Peculiar in Hands and 

Feet, 81 
Sentimentality, 209 
Serpent Symbol, 288 
Sexual Education, 562 

Enlightenment of Children, 567 

Factor in Psychoneuroses, 86 

Instinct, 155 

Subjects, Discussion of in Psy- 
choanalytic Treatment, 503 

Theory, Freud's, 155 
Sexuality, Freud's Definition of, 63 

and Eroticism, 168 
Shakespeare, Macbeth, 281 
Shut-in Natures, 256 
Silberer, H., Hypnoid Hallucina- 
tions, 241 

Work on Symbols, 293 
Smith, Adam, Theory of Sym- 
pathy, 262 
Snakes, Hallucinations of, 66 
Solipsism, 387 
Spanish Inquisitor, 573 
Speech, Meaning of Secret, 238 
Sperber, H., 14 

V. Speyr, 14 
Stekel, W., Dichtung und Neu- 
rose, 120 

Estimation of Religion, 413 

on Bipolar ity of Dreams, 361 
Stimulus Words for Word-Asso- 
ciation Test, 340 



St 



/ 






588 



INDEX 



Storring, Theory of Sympathy, 262 
Studies, Dislike of conditioned by 

Complexes, 553 
Studies in Hysteria, Breuer and 

Freud, 6 
Stuttering, 84 
Sublimation, 311 

Capacity for, 315 

on Basis of Repression, 316 

Psychology of, 313 
Substitution, Equivalent of Identi- 
fication, 270 
Suggestion, 439 

in Psychoanalysis, 442 
Superimposing of Material in 

Dream, 251 
Superstition, Analyzed, 36 
Symbolism, 273 
Symbols, Deeper Meaning of, 299 

Feminine, 293 

as Manifestation, 280 

Functional, 293, 296 

Masculine, 292 

in Religion, 275 

of Christian Religion, 579 

of Cross, 276 
Symbol, Psychology of, 262, 274 

Simultaneous Meanings of, 285 

Typical, 286 
Symbolism in Bible, 276 
Symptomatic Acts, 375 

Obsessional Character of, 377 

Taurobolium, 276 
Teacher as Father-Substitute, 551 
Teachers' Need for Analysis, 552 
Tendencies, Mental, Centrifugal 

and Centripetal, 255 
Thinking, Autistic, 303 

Directed, 304 

Reality, 302 

Subjective, 304 
Touching Phobia, 182 
Training of Children, 546 
Transference, 464 

Psychology of, 469 

Significance of, 470 

Treatment of, 472 

Negative, 472 

Positive, 473 



Transposition of Emotion, 209 
Traumdeutimg, Freud's, 9 
Traumatic Hysteria, 85 
Travel, Analysis of Passion for, 

381 
Tremor, Hysterical, 177 
Twilight State, 131 

Renim elation of Reality in, 257 
Twitching of Arm, 86 

Unconscious, The, Definition of, 

46 
Discussed, 44 

Freud's Conception of, 46 < 
Demonstration of, 43 
Experimentally Proven, 26 
and Modern Psychology, 30 
and Psychoanalyst, 30 
Unconscious Motivation, Exam- 
ples of, 32, 56, 57 
Unlucky Persons, Psychology of, 

110 
Untruthfulness, 75 

Vaginismus, 251 
Vision of Angel, 37 
Volition, 52 

Wagner, Richard, Complexes of, 
401 

Wagner, R., Graf's Interpretation 
of, 120 
on Regression to Infantile Pe- 
riod, 242 

Waking-Phantasies, 366 

Waldburger, A., 13 

"Werther" Goethe's, Identification 
with, 133 

White, W. A., 12, 14 

Wishfulfillment in Dream, 368 
and Manifestation, 416 

Witticisms, Condensation in, 249 

Word Associations, 340 

Work, Incapacity for, 127 

Writer's Cramp," 88 

Wundt, 22, 28 

Zentralblatt fiir Psychoanalyse, 12 
Ziehen, 27 

V. Zinzendorf, Graf, Pfister's Mon- 
ograph, 120 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 



i 

i 



